


It's A Cruel Summer

by shesbreathless



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Enemies to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Cheating, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-10-11 08:47:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 30,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20543369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shesbreathless/pseuds/shesbreathless
Summary: What happens when you mix a wedding on the beach, a horrible boyfriend, and a mysterious stranger, then put Levi right in the middle of all of it?





	1. Chapter 1

There’s an ice sculpture of a huge phallus right in the middle of the table, complete with impressive details carved into it. It’s been sweating steadily all over the tablecloth for hours, and Levi has been tracking the droplets coming down its side and gathering into a puddle at the base of it like it’s his job.

The truth is, he’s been trying to avoid making eye contact with the equally big sign sitting right by it, marking their group as part of a bachelor party. He really regrets the moment he agreed on attending this whole destination wedding thing as Chad’s plus one.

Don’t get him wrong, he’s grateful for the opportunity of spending a week in a resort on the beach at someone else’s expense, and it’s nice that Chad wanted him to come along to ‘spend some quality time together’, but this is not exactly what Levi had in mind when he imagined what that meant.

He doesn’t really know anybody apart from Chad, barely even met the bride and groom themselves, so he’s been having a bit of a hard time fitting into the bigger group. Chad being half drunk since the second they arrived hasn’t helped either.

Levi huffs as he dodges yet another flailing arm coming his way. He gives up on his plan of retrieving another pizza slice and leans back against the bench, crossing his arms over his chest and rolling his eyes as he watches somebody else steal it for themselves.

He’s been sitting here, squished between sweaty people for at least three hours, and he’s honestly over it by now. He would get up and leave, but he can already hear the guys telling him how lame he is, so he stays quiet and looks around to pass the time.

The bar they’re in is crowded and loud, the lights turned low enough that Levi can barely make out the people sitting at the counter, waiting for their drinks. His group has put together at least five or six tables to make the one they’re all sitting around, and alcohol has been flowing freely all night.

Levi has been nursing the same glass of now warm beer, steering clear of the weirdly coloured substances the others are getting drunk on. It’s safe to say that this is fairly outside of his comfort zone.

“Are you having fun?”

Startled by the sudden voice in his ear, Levi jumps and turns around, coming face to face with Chad sitting right next to him. He wraps an arm around Levi’s waist and squeezes, raising his eyebrows as he waits for an answer.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” he nods, showing him his almost empty glass.

“You look good tonight,” Chad continues, lips pressed to Levi’s ear, breath hot against it.

Levi smiles but he squirms away, looking around to make sure that nobody is staring at them. He doesn’t think anybody would actually care, seeing how completely wasted all of them are, but Chad being so affectionate in public still makes him uncomfortable.

His eyes flit across the people sitting on the other side of the table, to the couples and groups dancing in the middle of the room, finally settling on another pair of eyes staring right back at him. It surprises him, but neither Levi nor the mysterious stranger look away.

“Thank you,” he smiles sideways at Chad, but his focus is still on the pair of eyes.

The only thing he can make out is how intense they look as they hold Levi’s gaze. He can tell they’re dark even from this far, but they have a twinkle to them that doesn’t look like it comes from the dim lighting in the bar. Maybe the beer was stronger than Levi realized, if those are the thoughts he’s having.

Probably trying to bring his attention back on him, Chad nibbles on Levi’s lobe and a cheer erupts from the head of the table, so Levi gets distracted for long enough that when he looks back at the bar, the eyes have disappeared.

“I’m so happy that you decided to come with me,” Chad murmurs, rubbing his nose against the side of Levi’s face.

Levi’s heart flutters happily at that, so he turns his full attention towards Chad. His blown pupils give away how drunk he truly is, made even more obvious by how bad his breath smells. Levi makes a face as soon as he notices, but Chad seems completely oblivious.

“We should do this more often,” he comments, a slur making his words hard to understand.

Patting the side of his face as a way to appease him, Levi smiles but doesn’t answer him, both because Chad is not really waiting for one, and because he doesn’t know how to tell him that he hates all of this.

It’s not the people – not all of them, anyway –, because Chad’s friends had accepted him into the group just fine, it’s what they consider to be a fun night out. Going out with them usually includes absurd amounts of alcohol, loud music and very few pieces of clothing. Long story short, Chad and his group of friends’ favourite activity is spending their salary away in strip clubs.

But Levi loves him, and he appreciates that they all always want him to come with them, but it’s just not what he likes to do in his free time. He’d much rather stay at home and catch up on his favourite shows by himself, and spend quality time with Chad in other ways.

It’s a compromise that works. Usually. Right now, he really just wants to go back to their room and sleep.

It must be more obvious than he thinks, because even through the haze of drunkenness, Chad leans back to look Levi in the eye. “Are you tired?”

“Not really,” Levi shrugs. “We can stay if you want.”

Chad keeps staring at him, then suddenly smiles and bites his lower lip. He turns around, glances at the people sitting nearby, then leans back in with his lips grazing Levi’s ear.

“I can think of something else I want right now,” he whispers.

A shiver runs up Levi’s spine, followed by Chad’s fingers sliding under his shirt and running up and down his back. Levi chuckles and turns his head just enough for Chad to get the hint and attach his lips to the side of his neck.

This is definitely more of Levi’s idea of a fun night.

“I could get in the mood,” he shrugs, but his voice is probably too breathy to be believable.

Chad grins and leans in to catch Levi’s lips in a kiss. He tastes like wine and fresh fruit. Every thought of being in public and there being too many people around instantly leaves Levi’s mind, at least until Chad’s friends start whistling and generally shouting rude stuff at them.

Middle finger making the rounds, Chad unceremoniously stands up and steps away from the table, stumbling as he takes Levi along with him. Somebody moves to the side to let them walk out of the bar when Chad almost runs into the door, and Levi apologizes under his breath for the both of them.

He would normally be mortified by having so much unwarranted attention on him, but he’s too happy to finally be getting out of here to think about anything else. Also, he wasn’t lying about being more than halfway interested in the way things are going.

Their cabin is not far from the bar; all they have to walk down is a stone pathway, pass a few other occupied cabins and they’re standing in front of their closed door, Chad fumbling with the key while Levi patiently waits behind him.

He busies the time Chad takes to coordinate his brain and his hands to fully take in the scenery around him. Their cabin is in the middle of the line that leads back to the bar, and in front of it there is a huge stretch of beach that leads right to the water. It’s nothing too fancy, but it all still looks amazing.

“Aha!” Chad exclaims when the key finally turns like he wants it to.

Levi turns back towards the entrance of the cabin, wraps his arms around Chad’s waist and urges him to walk in. Chad chuckles and leans against the door, but as soon as it opens, he takes exactly one step forward, crashes down against the bed, burps and then stops moving altogether. Levi quietly closes the door behind him, staring at Chad’s unmoving form for any sign of life. He’s still breathing, at least.

“Chad?” he calls out, stepping up to the side of the bed and patting his shoulder.

“Mh,” Chad replies. “What’s wrong?”

“You want me to do all the work, huh?” Levi jokes, climbing on the bed and running a hand down Chad’s back.

Rubbing his face into the pillow under his head, Chad arches his back into the touch and smiles drunkenly. Levi lifts the bottom of his shirt and leans down to leave a kiss on the small of his back, right along the line of his pants.

“Mh,” Chad complains. “Tired. Sleep.”

“But…” Levi starts, then sighs, knowing a lost cause when he sees one. “Alright. Don’t sleep in your clothes.”

Chad hums and slowly but surely takes off his clothes, while Levi rolls his eyes and goes to the bathroom to brush his teeth. That’s not happening, then. Now that he thinks of it, he should have known, considering how badly Chad generally handles alcohol, but he guesses he hoped this time would be different.

He takes care of his business in the bathroom, strips out of his clothes, then crawls into bed next to Chad. He lies on his side and reaches out with one hand to brush the hair off Chad’s forehead, looking at his profile as it’s lit up by the moonlight coming in through the windows.

“Night,” Levi whispers.

A smile stretches out on Chad’s face as he cuddles into Levi’s hand, already more asleep than awake. Levi’s heart clenches at how sweet the whole scene looks, so he leans in to peck Chad’s cheek before fluffing up his own pillow and letting his eyes fall closed.

He can’t stop his mind from processing the day he’s just had, no matter how much he’d prefer just falling asleep. It’s been a long one, for sure. Meeting all of Chad’s friends for the first time sure had made it feel as such. They’re all lovely people, but they’re just… intense.

Levi can get over it, though, if it means spending time with his favourite boy, away from their hectic lives, even if just for a few days. He thinks he did the best he could just earlier at the bar, and everything had turned out for the best.

He promises himself that the rest of the week is going to be just as great, if not better. He’ll make friends, he’ll sunbathe, eat seafood until he can’t anymore, and anything else that comes to mind in the meantime. There will be no unnecessary drama on his part, because they’re on holiday and they’re relaxing.

Without disrupting Chad’s already heavy sleep, Levi grabs his arm to cuddle with, then finally sighs and allows any thought of loud music, disgusting drinks and mysterious strangers from their night at the bar leave his mind, falling asleep almost immediately.


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing Levi’s tired eyes register is the stream of sunlight beating on the bottom of the bed, warming up his feet in a pleasant way, not too hot yet. It must still be early, because the only sound Levi can hear is the waves rhythmically crashing on the shore. Maybe a few seagulls.

He frees his arms from their cramped position underneath him, stretches them out and lets them fall back down on the bed with a satisfied sigh. Scratching the outside of his thigh, he turns his head to the side to look at Chad, still sleeping soundly next to him.

Chad’s arms reach over and behind his head, hands hidden under his pillow, muscles at rest but still perfectly visible. He’s gorgeous, is the thing. Golden skin stretching on for miles, only interrupted by patches of short, dark hair and the occasional mole.

Levi’s gaze travels up from the steady up and down movement of Chad’s chest, over the stubble on his jaw and the subtle smile he has even in his sleep. His eyes are closed, but Levi doesn’t need to see them to know how nice their light blue colour is. His dark curls are splayed out on the pillow, and he generally looks like a dream.

After a while, Levi realizes that he’s been staring for way too long. He shakes himself out of his handsome boyfriend induced stupor and throws his legs off the side of the bed, standing up with only minimal struggling on his part.

He steps into the bathroom and glances at himself in the mirror, happy that he looks better than he thought he would. He runs his fingers through his hair to fluff it up, splashes some water on his face, then peeks out of the window at the stretch of beach it overlooks.

It’s a beautiful day, the sky is blue and the water is bluer, and the sand looks invitingly empty. Levi can’t wait to waste his day away on it.

“Ugh,” he hears Chad complain from the other room.

“Good morning,” Levi smiles, following the sound of rustling sheets and quiet groans. “Did you sleep well?”

Chad is rubbing his face with his hands when Levi knees his way on the bed. He squints one eye open, then closes it just as fast, eyebrows furrowed in an expression that looks less than happy to be awake.

“How are you already up,” Chad croaks.

“I didn’t drink my body weight in alcohol last night,” Levi explains.

He reaches out and combs his fingers through Chad’s hair, waiting for him to fully wake up so they can decide on their schedule for today.

“We should really take advantage of the free day before the wedding to spend some time on the beach,” Levi suggests, bouncing slightly on the mattress.

Chad grunts and turns onto his side, leaving Levi to stare at his bare shoulders.

“C’mon, sleepyhead, you don’t want to miss out on-“

“Oh my God, Levi, just go,” Chad speaks over him.

Taken aback, Levi retracts the finger he’d been tapping on Chad’s side. He takes a breath to calm himself down before answering Chad’s rude tone.

“You said we’d have at least one day for just the two of us,” Levi reminds him.

“Yeah, well, I don’t feel good today,” Chad sighs.

Levi can’t help but scoff. “You always seem to feel good when you’re getting drunk with your friends.”

He stands up from the bed and quickly changes into the first swimming suit he grabs out of his suitcase, face hot with anger and movements quick and rushed.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Chad asks, propping himself up on his elbows.

“Nothing,” Levi snaps, grabbing his backpack and heading for the door. “Bye.”

“Where are you going?!” Chad calls after him, but Levi’s only answer is to let the door slam shut.

He feels immediately better. Now that he’s outside, Levi can tell that it’s actually much earlier than he thought, the sun just barely having gone up. The sand is already pleasantly warm between his toes, though, so Levi starts walking towards the beach to find a spot to sit and just be in peace.

It’s early enough that there are just a couple of people walking along the shore, so Levi is free to choose a spot where the sand is firm enough for him to sit down without sinking in it. He props his backpack next to him, leans back onto his hands buried in the sand, and stares out at the ocean.

He knows it’s just the heat of the moment, but he really has no idea why he keeps putting up with Chad’s ridiculous behaviour, why he keeps believing his promises even after he breaks every single one of them. This morning was just an example, but it’s one of many.

Levi had agreed to be his plus one for this wedding, but if he’s being honest, he’d only said yes because he thought that spending so much time in just each other’s company would bring them closer. He’d obviously been deadly wrong.

His mind keeps trying to detangle all these thoughts even as Levi tries his best to focus on nothing but the very edge of the waves coming to wet his toes. The only thing that manages to break through that mess is the sound of somebody approaching from behind him.

Levi leans his head back and looks at the stranger upside down. He’s much closer than he thought, because the only thing Levi can make out is a pair of hairy knees, connected to a very muscular naked torso, which is in turn connected to a smiling face looking at him.

“That’s an interesting way to enjoy the scenery.”

Startled, Levi sits back up and turns around to face the guy properly. He’s standing with his hands on his hips, head tilted to the side, short black hair waving in the breeze. What really stands out to Levi, though, is how familiar his dark eyes look. He’s fairly sure he doesn’t know this person.

“I’m sorry, were you busy?” the guy asks when Levi doesn’t say anything for a while.

“Uh, no, sorry,” Levi shakes his head. “I was just looking at the water.”

“I, too, like coming here first thing in the morning.”

Levi nods and gives him a half smile, not really sure how to continue the conversation. The guy seems to decide for the both of them though, taking a step forward and sitting down next to Levi.

“I’m Nico, by the way,” he introduces himself.

Levi shakes the hand he’s offering him. “Levi.”

“I’m going to be straight forward,” Nico clears his throat. “I noticed you at the bachelor party last night.”

There’s the hazy memory of those same eyes looking back at him through the dark bar. Levi raises one eyebrow. “Did you?”

“I noticed how much you weren’t having fun, mostly. You left before I could buy you a drink.”

Levi chuckles, brings his knees up and wraps his arms around them. He doesn’t know whether he should feel self-conscious that his discomfort was that obvious, or uncomfortable that this random man is basically telling him that he spent the previous night watching him, so he decides to do neither.

“I really don’t think you know me enough to tell when I’m having fun or not.”

Nico smirks and shrugs, stretching his legs in front of him, the water lapping his ankles. Levi watches the liquid clear away the sand that had been clinging to Nico’s feet. This whole exchange has something to it that doesn’t feel real.

“Some things you can tell by just looking at people’s eyes,” Nico finally answers.

Levi keeps staring down at the stretch of sand between them, then frowns and slowly raises his eyes to meet Nico’s. They stay perfectly still for a few seconds, then they both burst out in laughter.

“That was awful,” Levi manages to get out, letting go of his knees to cross his legs. “Like, seriously, does it ever work?”

Nico raises his hands in defence, but he’s laughing as well. As soon as they both calm down, he leans back on his hands and shrugs.

“I realized how bad it was as soon as it came out,” he admits. “I apologize.”

“I’ll let it slide for now,” Levi smirks, pointedly ignoring how satisfied Nico looks. “So, what were you doing at the bar last night? Vacation?”

“Actually, I’m here for the wedding as well. The bride and groom used to be my housemates.”

Levi turns towards him with an impressed expression. “I’d actually never met them before yesterday.”

“And you’re attending their wedding?”

“My boyfriend Chad is the groom’s best man,” Levi explains.

Nico is very careful not to let his reaction show on his face, nodding and sitting up straight. Like this, he’s so much taller than Levi that he has to tilt his head up to keep looking him in the eyes. He should probably shut up, but he keeps talking.

“You probably noticed him, ignoring me all night in favour of getting wasted.”

Levi has the instinctual reaction of immediately shutting this conversation down, feeling that maybe it’s not fair to be talking this way about Chad when he’s not here to defend himself, and when they haven’t even discussed this themselves, but Levi is still mad at him, so he reserves the right to be petty.

Nico scoffs. “Chad _is_ kind of a douchebag name.”

“That’s a lot, coming from somebody named Nico,” Levi squints.

Acting offended, Nico raises one eyebrow and blinks exaggeratedly. “Take that back.”

“Why?” Levi smirks. “Sore spot?”

Nico shakes his head and laughs, but ultimately doesn’t answer. Instead, he stretches his arms over his head and hoists himself up in one smooth movement that definitely doesn’t impress Levi.

“I can’t handle this level of sass before breakfast,” Nico offers Levi a hand to help him stand up. “Join me?”

Levi stares at the hand right in front of his face. The easy-going atmosphere of their exchange feels like it has lifted, leaving behind the realization that Levi should probably go back to his cabin. He tells Nico as such, standing up by himself and dusting the sand off his legs.

“Ah, yes,” Nico crosses his arms behind his back. “Back to Chad. Lucky guy.”

“Yep,” Levi nods, ignoring Nico’s last statement. “Thanks for the offer, though.”

Nico smiles, rocks back and forth on his feet. Levi presses his lips together in what he hopes looks like an actual smile, then takes one step towards the path that leads back to the cabins.

“Have a good breakfast,” he tries, waving with one hand.

“See you around,” Nico waves back.

Levi nods one last time, then fully turns around and actually starts walking, resolutely staring straight ahead of him.

When he reaches the right door he tries to kick off as much sand off his feet as possible, then quietly enters and notices Chad sitting up in bed, holding his head with his hands. He looks up when he hears Levi approaching, face still puffy from sleep.

“Hello, beautiful creature, whom I’m undeserving of,” Chad tries.

Levi rolls his eyes but can’t hold back the huge smile that appears on his face. He locks the door and runs towards the bed, launching himself on it and barely missing hitting Chad in the face with a knee. He won’t comment on whether that was on purpose or not.


	3. Chapter 3

Breeze in his hair and a forkful of amazing seafood pasta in his hand, Levi is finally living his fancy resort on the beach fantasy. He’s sitting at a table on a terrace overlooking the ocean, and he’s still surrounded by Chad and all of his friends, but they’re all so hungover that none of them is making any sound. It’s heaven.

“Could you pass me the salad?” Chad whispers in his ear.

“Sure,” Levi quips, putting the bowl in his hands. “I don’t know when the last time you voluntarily ate vegetables was.”

Chad glares at him as he stuffs green leaves in his mouth, while Levi just beams happily. It’s probably not nice that he’s so happy while everybody else is miserable and in pain, but they’re finally quiet and not screaming obscenities at each other, so Levi will take what he gets.

He can feel Chad’s fingers as if they were still digging into his hips, clever in where they pressed as Chad asked for forgiveness the only way he knows how. Maybe not the only one, but certainly the most effective one.

“What are you smiling about?” Chad asks, still looking at him sideways.

“Nothing,” Levi takes a sip of his drink. “I’m just happy.”

Chad smirks and turns back to his food, everybody else paying absolutely no mind to them. Levi is honestly okay with it, as long as they’re quiet and have stopped drinking for the meantime. He twirls more pasta around his fork and goes back to staring out at the sea.

They spend no longer than an hour at the restaurant, and the only one who really eats something – or, better, the only one who can hold down any food is Levi, but he doesn’t let that be a problem, happily eating to his stomach’s content.

Somebody in the group suggests going down to the beach, so they all trudge down the stairs that lead right to the middle of a huge stretch of sand between bundles of rocks. They spread out, some of them in the direct sunlight and others in the shade by the rocks, beach towels creating a huge, colourful carpet.

The weather is as amazing as it has consistently been the whole time they’ve been here, but this is the first time Levi feels like he’s truly enjoying it. It’s probably overly dramatic, but fuck if he hates being in the middle of unnecessarily loud crowds of drunk dudes.

Sighing happily, he lies down on his towel in the shade and lets Chad prop his head on his stomach. Levi buries his fingers in his hair, scratches his scalp and smiles up at the sky.

The bliss lasts about thirty seconds.

“Yo, we have a ball!” somebody yells excitedly.

Levi mentally rolls his eyes and reluctantly lets Chad go when he immediately scrambles up to inquire more about this alleged ball.

“Who wants to play?” another guy calls out.

A few people stand up and gather to make teams, while Levi slowly sits up, with absolutely no intention of joining them. There’s only four of them discussing what they’re going to play, the others still sprawled out on the sand. Levi shakes his head when Chad turns to look at him in question.

“You’re all so boring,” the guy who had found the ball accuses. “Let’s go ask those dudes over there.”

Levi follows the line of his arm to where he’s pointing, and he nearly has a heart attack right then and there. Nico is standing tall and proud in the middle of the group they want to approach. They’re moving before Levi could even think about saying something. What would he even say anyway?

He watches the guy – Josh, he thinks – talk to Nico’s group, and he holds his breath as Nico shakes his head as an answer. Chad, who had stayed behind and come back closer to Levi to ask for his water bottle, takes his phone and wallet out of his pockets and drops them on the towel.

“Cheer for me, yeah?” he says.

Levi nods and smiles distractedly, heart skipping a beat when he focuses back on Nico in the distance and finds that he’s now much closer than before. In fact, he’s mingling with Levi’s own group and staring right back at Levi with intent.

He waves and smiles, and apparently makes a move to step closer, so Levi sits up straight and waves back. He can hear Chad still saying something, probably asking him a question, but there is blood rushing in Levi’s ears that keeps him from hearing any of it.

“Hey, you okay?” Chad waves a hand in front of Levi’s face.

He doesn’t let him answer, instead turning to look behind him at the now larger group of guys trying to decide who’ll be the goalkeeper. Levi prepares for the inevitable outburst of jealousy when he realizes who Levi was looking at, but it never comes. Chad just turns back to Levi, sends him a kiss, and goes to play.

Levi releases the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He wishes he could attribute his reaction to being overly dramatic, but he’s seen Chad almost get into fights with people just because they’d ‘looked at Levi wrong’, so he had his reasons for expecting just the same to happen now.

Maybe he hadn’t noticed Nico casually turning on his heel as soon as he saw him? Maybe he’s still so hungover that he doesn’t really care? Whatever the reason is, Levi’s not going to argue with it. He sits back and watches the game start, not really one to deny himself the scene of his sweaty, half naked boyfriend playing in the sand.

They lazily pass the ball between the two teams, occasionally kicking it over the goalkeepers’ heads. It looks like a soccer game in slow motion, and it’s more amusing than Levi thought it would be. There are missed kicks and faceplants into the ground, and way too many trips to the water to rescue the ball.

At one point Nico takes the lead, runs around the guys who are too hungover to do anything about it, and kicks the ball right between the goalkeeper’s legs, scoring the first real goal of the game.

“Nice one!” Levi cheers from the sidelines, always one for being fair.

Chad whips his head around with his mouth open and a frown on his face, then glares at Nico as he bows to answer the cheers from both Levi and his own friends. Levi waves him away with a laugh, keeping an eye on Chad coming back to get his water bottle again.

Except this time, he turns it upside-down over his head and lets the water fall down his whole body. Levi just stares in surprise as a few droplets fall on him as well.

“Was that necessary?” he asks when Chad shakes his head so that water sprays everywhere.

Chad just points at him as he walks backwards without saying anything. Instead, he gets into position, stares the opposite team down and lets an arrogant smile spread on his lips. He says something that Levi doesn’t hear, but he does see Nico smirk and nod as an answer.

“This next goal will make or break the game!” Chad announces.

A few people lazily cheer while others complain that it was too short, but Chad is only intent on stepping closer and closer to Nico. Levi can see that they’re almost the same height, Nico being only a tiny bit taller. Nico thrusts the ball into Chad’s hands and goes back to his side of the makeshift field.

Chad only has the time to put it down onto the sand before catching it on his foot and immediately kicking it straight over the goalkeeper’s shoulder, scoring a goal without anyone being able to really understand what’s going on.

Even his teammates are stunned by how fast all of that was, so that leaves only Chad to start screaming and cheering for himself. He runs back towards Levi, bends in half and smacks a loud kiss right on his lips, then forcibly grabs him and pulls him up, throwing him over his own shoulder and spinning around.

Levi screeches and holds on for dear life to Chad’s waist, the sand looking way too close to his head. Chad and his friends scream and jump and generally make way too much noise, apparently having forgotten that they’re supposed to be hungover.

“Yeeeah! Woo!” Chad screams, spinning in a circle one last time and finally letting Levi slide down.

“Oh my god, you’re crazy,” Levi laughs, stumbling a few steps back.

He lets Chad drop a kiss right in the middle of his forehead, then turns around to look at the other guys still celebrating. It’s over the top and exaggerated, but they’re having harmless fun, so Levi lets himself enjoy it. He turns his head the other way and casually looks for Nico, but he’s nowhere to be found.

“Did the other guys leave already?” Levi asks out loud, confused.

“Yeah, they couldn’t handle the burn of losing,” Chad answers, voice maybe a bit too loud, prompting everybody who’s standing close enough to cheer.

That leaves a bit of a sour taste in Levi’s mouth. He wasn’t expecting the two groups to somehow join and hang out together, but… he kind of was. Truthfully, he was looking forward to talking to Nico some more, unsatisfied from their last conversation and convinced that it wasn’t a coincidence that they were here together.

Granted that they’re here for the same wedding and it’s kind of inevitable that they find each other in the same places, but Levi likes to think that there’s something more to it.

What’s certain is that there is nothing more to the way Chad drops his hands and firmly grabs Levi’s ass, right in the middle of the beach and right in front of everybody. Levi rolls his eyes and pinches him on the pec, Chad yelping in pain and pouting, but still letting go.

“I’ll give you back the right to do that if you go on a walk with me,” Levi negotiates.

Chad smiles wide and immediately runs back to their previous spot, gathers their stuff and offers his arm for Levi to take. Levi rolls his eyes once again at Chad’s eagerness, but nonetheless hooks his hand over Chad’s elbow and falls into step with him.

They walk down the beach until they can continue with their feet in the water. Chad is not one for mindless chatting, and Levi is perfectly aware that he only agreed to this because Levi promised him something in return, but he wants to force himself to ignore all of it. He just wants to take a walk in peace.

Looking out into the expanse of beautiful blue water, the afternoon sun still high but not as merciless anymore, Levi can almost believe everything is as perfect as it feels right now. There is no space for angry accusations, tears, and screaming matches in front of the ocean, is what he tells himself.

He’ll leave thinking about how this relationship is starting to only work when they’re naked and their mouths are too busy doing something else to be able to talk, or when there are so many other people around that speaking to each other is physically impossible for another moment.


	4. Chapter 4

The music is pounding in Levi’s ears and he can feel the vibrations of the bass in his chest, but he doesn’t mind it. He loves it. In fact, he downs the last of his drink and knocks the glass down on the counter, then turns around and struts right to the middle of the dance floor.

In his mind it’s fierce and it makes him look sure of himself; to the outside eye, it probably looks like he’s drunk off his mind. Which is not that far from the truth, anyway, so. Let them think what they want.

He twirls with his hands over his head, happily not giving a fuck about anything. Just this night, he deserves it for keeping everything together for so long. That’s probably way too dramatic. Or maybe he has every right to feel what he’s feeling. He knows somebody who definitely wouldn’t think so.

Right on cue, Levi feels arms slide around his waist from behind. He doesn’t have to look, to know who it is. The industrial amount of cologne he can smell gives it away.

“May I have this dance?”

Levi rolls his eyes and shrugs, continuing with his own dance while Chad tries to keep up. They probably look ridiculous. But again, fuck what everybody else thinks.

They jump when the music asks for it, they sway dramatically when it slows down enough, even laugh together at the faces some of the other people on the dance floor make at them for being too loud when they sing along to the one song with actual lyrics the DJ puts on.

It’s almost nice. It actually is, for a while.

When there’s a pause in the set, they stop by the bar to get new drinks, then stumble together back to their table, where the other people who had gone out with them are sitting.

That’s where the night takes a turn for the worse and never really goes back.

“Hey, Levi!”

Coming to a halt right by the table, Levi frowns and stares Nico straight in the eye, as if looking at him that hard could change the fact that it makes no sense that he’s there. This is his group of friends… people, and Nico is in it. Nico, who is not part of said group. What?

“What?” he actually says it out loud.

Nico smiles like something is funny. The way Chad makes Levi step back with a hand on his chest definitely isn’t. Levi wiggles free from his hold and goes to sit in front of Nico, on the other side of the table. Chad follows, sitting at the very end of the bench and forcing everybody to squeeze closer together.

“Having a fun night?” Nico asks, looking specifically at Levi.

“Yeah!” Levi answers happily. “I like the music!”

“You would never say that he likes to dance like that, would you?” Chad intrudes the conversation.

Levi makes a complaining noise and looks at him with outrage written clearly on his face, while Nico barely tilts his head to the side and smiles a fake smile at Chad.

“I don’t generally like to judge people based on what they look like,” he says.

Chad takes a handful of the peanuts sitting on the middle of the table and stuffs them in his mouth, but doesn’t answer. He does keep staring at Nico, though.

“We saw a dolphin out in the ocean today,” Levi excitedly tells Nico. “That was pretty cool.”

“I saw one the other day as well! They’re so cute.”

“They are! They’re so… cool,” Levi nods, beaming.

“They remind me of you,” Nico leans on the table and bites his lower lip. “You got lucky, _Chad_.”

He says his name like he’s making fun of it, there’s a mean undertone to it. Both Levi and Chad himself obviously notice.

“No luck, I worked to get it,” Chad wraps an arm around Levi’s arms and pulls him closer.

Nico looks between them, then scoffs, shakes his head. “Gotta work to keep it, too.”

Levi doesn’t like where this is going. He doesn’t like how Chad is speaking about him and he doesn’t like the way Nico is looking at him. He’s too drunk to think of what to do to make it stop, though.

“Is that a threat?” Chad asks through his teeth.

“Do you feel threatened?” Nico smiles serenely.

“Guys, stop,” Levi finally finds the words to step between them. “What’s wrong with you two?”

The music is still much louder than it should be, and Levi has lost the high from the alcohol. Looking from Nico’s sarcastic smirk to Chad’s angry brows is making a headache swell right in the middle of his forehead. He breaks free from Chad’s arm still around him, then rubs his hands down his face.

“What, has _Chad_ never told you you’re as cute as a dolphin?” Nico laughs.

“No, I can’t say I’ve ever heard that,” Levi shrugs. “Well, before you told me.”

“That’s such a shame!” Nico acts outraged. “_Chad_, you shouldn’t neglect him like that!”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Chad says slowly.

Levi feels like he somehow knows what’s coming. He sits up straight and glances at the other guys at the table, who are all doing an awful job of pretending they’re not eavesdropping on their conversation. None of them is really whispering, anyway, so they’re not totally at fault.

“I don’t?” Nico puts a hand to his chest, pretending to be shocked. “Levi, weren’t you the one to tell me that _Chad_ does nothing but ignore you?”

“You said what?” Chad looks at him, eyebrows raised.

Hands raised as if defending himself against something, Levi shakes his head to try and get himself out of this situation. He has no idea what’s going on and why, but he really wants all of it to end as soon as possible. He feels like he might be sick, as well.

“Sweet Levi over here was desperate for somebody to listen to him, and since you were too busy getting wasted, he told me,” Nico explains as if it’s the easiest thing ever.

“Nico, stop,” Levi tries.

“Is that true?” Chad asks him, voice hard and angry.

Levi just looks at him. He opens his mouth but closes it without actually saying anything, letting his eyes fall to the side and sighing. No point in lying now, is there?

That seems to be all Chad needs to hear. Or not hear. Whatever. The point is, he looks between Nico and Levi, scoffs, and storms off. Levi’s hindered reflexes only allow him to get a quick look at his face before he disappears completely. He looks angry, but not as angry as Levi knows he can get.

Shaking himself out of it, Levi jumps into action. The whole table is deadly quiet, everybody looking at him but pretending they aren’t. Except for Nico, who’s openly staring at him like he expects him to say or do something. Levi looks at him like he’s a crazy person, then stands up to run after Chad.

“He’s not worth it, Levi,” Chad stops him with a hand on his forearm. “Don’t bother.”

Levi angrily tears his arm away from his grasp, and only lingers long enough to yell at him right in the middle of the bar. “You don’t know anything. Mind your own fucking business.”

He doesn’t let him answer, instead taking off after Chad. He spots him not that far from the door, drunkenly stumbling away. His own head swimming from the amount of alcohol he himself consumed, Levi catches up with him, rounding him and stopping him in his tracks by pressing a hand on his chest.

“Go back to your new boyfriend,” Chad rolls his eyes.

“What?” Levi frowns. “Have you completely lost your mind?”

Chad scoffs. “You think I haven’t noticed the way you look at him?”

Levi has no idea how to answer that. Does he even want to answer that?

“C’mon, say it isn’t true. Say you don’t like him,” Chad beats him to it.

“Chad, it’s really not like that. I barely even know him.”

“Yeah, and apparently it’s enough for you to replace me,” Chad sighs.

Levi can’t believe what he’s hearing. He crosses his arms in front of his chest and tries to make sense of this whole mess, but he can only come up with one conclusion.

“Are you, like, on drugs or something?” he whispers.

Chad bursts out laughing, but it sounds so bitter that it makes Levi’s heart hurt. He sidesteps Levi, walks around him and makes a move to keep heading for their cabin. He stops to glance at Levi one last time.

“What you did is really not cool. Don’t come home tonight. Or like, ever. We’re done,” is the last thing he says before turning around.

Levi watches him go, but he really feels like this might just be a really weird dream. Not a nightmare, because this is way too absurd and not scary enough to be one. Maybe he’s the one who’s on drugs.

“Where am I supposed to sleep then?!” he calls out after him as a last resort.

“Not my problem!”

“Oh, go fuck a tree, Chad!” Levi yells at the top of his lungs.

He kicks a random rock on the pathway, curses loudly at the pain it causes, then buries his face in his hands and tries his best to keep breathing. At least that.

It’s only a few seconds before he hears somebody coming up from behind him.

“Is everything okay?” Nico asks, tone worried.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Levi throws his hands to the air, turns around to face Nico.

He can’t do this, not now, not tonight, preferably not ever.

“I just wanted to see if I can help,” Nico explains.

“Haven’t you done enough already?”

“I know you don’t see it right now, but you’re better off without him.” Nico tries, voice infuriatingly calm.

“Oh my god, shut the fuck up! You don’t know me, we’ve only talked once, just leave me the fuck alone!” Levi yells, looking Nico in the eye to make sure that he hears all of it.

Before he can say anything else, Levi turns on his heels and runs away. He almost falls on his face a few times when he stumbles in the sand, but that’s the least of his problems right now. He keeps his head down as he walks, embarrassment making his cheeks burn.

What the fuck. What the actual, fucking hell of a fuck. Did Chad and he just have a fight over absolutely nothing? Did they break up? No, that’s impossible. Is it? Why is he not that bothered by the thought?

When he looks up from his own feet, he finds that he’s walked up to the hotel’s reception. He takes a deep breath, walks in and, using the last effects of his drunkenness, unashamedly asks for a new room on the wedding’s plan.

Considering how the night – no, scratch that, the last week at the very least – has been going, this operation thankfully goes without a hitch. The receptionist looks at him like he’s the saddest sight she’s had to endure today, and he’s not sure he would be able to argue with her about that.

He takes his key, quietly thanks the gracefully silent girl at the desk and drags his feet to his room. They didn’t have any other cabins available, so he’s staying in the main building in a regular room. He genuinely wouldn’t care if he had to sleep on the beach at this point.

Key successfully turning in the lock, Levi steps into his room, crashes down on his bed, and cries probably the hardest he’s ever cried in his entire life. He sobs and screams into his pillow, and only stops because he falls asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

A shiver runs up Levi’s spine. He wraps the blanket tighter over his shoulders and curls up around the pillow, lazily throwing an arm behind him, looking for that familiar body to cuddle into and steal the warmth from.

“Huh,” he mumbles, squinting one eye open and looking around.

The terrible realization that the previous night hadn’t been just a weird product of his mind comes crashing down on him, knocking the breath out his chest and leaving him staring at the empty, untouched rest of the bed. Levi sighs and pulls his hand back, cradling it against his own chest.

He hadn’t been able to stop the hope that somehow everything would be okay when he woke up from blooming in the back of his mind, but evidently that’s not the case. His phone buzzes on his nightstand, but he really doesn’t have the strength to deal with it now. He reaches for it and just turns it off completely.

Laying back down on the bed, Levi stares up at the ceiling and focuses on the up and down movement of his chest as he breathes. He picks at the memories from the previous night, but it still doesn’t make any sense. It feels like he’s missing something to be able to fully understand what happened.

All that’s certain is that today is the wedding day. Levi could easily just stay in bed, go back to sleep and pretend that he doesn’t exist for the rest of the day. For the week. Maybe for the rest of his life, he could move somewhere new and just forget that any of these people ever existed.

He doesn’t want that, though. He’s on a beautiful island and he’s never been one for cowering when either people or just life tries to scare him away. He’s done nothing wrong and everybody knows it, they’re just doing what feels more convenient. Chad is just being the general asshole he’s always been.

“Alright,” Levi whispers to himself, but doesn’t move.

There’s a darker spot in the corner of the room, and he spends an indefinite amount of time trying to make out what it is. A fly? There are no flies here. Mould? Yikes. It’s most likely absolutely nothing. He should check it out though, he needs to make sure…

Shaking his head, Levi sits up, letting the blanket pool on his lap. With one last deep breath, he throws it off his legs and stands up. His first step forward is a fail, but he catches himself and reaches the bathroom.

Levi looks in the mirror and presses his fingers to the bags under his eyes, then runs them through his hair and promises himself that he’s finally going to take the advice of every wise person who’s ever told him that he can choose to see the positive in every situation. He’s going to try, at least.

He opens the shower and steps in without waiting for the water to warm up; it’s somehow always the perfect temperature anyway. He quickly lathers himself up in the hotel gifted soap and shampoo, unashamedly making a sound at how good the pressure of the water feels on his back.

It only takes him a few minutes to dry himself up and change into the all-white suit he had to bring, request of the newlyweds-to-be. He should feel ridiculous, but looking in the mirror he thinks that the white pants make his ass look good. Hey, that’s the positive thinking shit talking.

He realizes that he doesn’t actually know what time it is. Taking the phone from where he apparently plugged it into the wall last night, he turns it back on and finds out that he’s late for breakfast but perfectly in time for the wedding itself.

One last look at his outfit and a quick fix of his hair, Levi steps outside of his room and closes the door behind himself. He can do this.

As much as he tries to walk slowly and take his time, he makes it to the beach while everybody is still mingling around, small groups talking amongst themselves an thankfully completely ignoring Levi.

The whole scenery is still absolutely breathtaking. It’s the middle of the day but it’s not too hot under the trees, and there’s a nice breeze ruffling people’s hair and keeping the heat off of them. It’s the perfect day to get married, it really is.

There are chairs set in two simple groups, the white arch in the middle at the end of the aisle, all set up exactly like you’d expect. It’s still pretty, though.

Levi looks around at the people already sitting down, recognizing a few of Chad’s friends, who all pointedly look away from him. Levi rolls his eyes and refrains from saying anything, walking past them and going to sit in the last row by himself.

Chad’s unmistakeable head of curls stands out immediately to Levi’s eyes. He won’t hide the fact that he feels his heart skip a beat, but it also breaks a little when he sees how happy he is, talking to his friends and laughing as if nothing had ever bothered him in his life.

He’s still staring at him from afar, arms crossed over his chest and head tilted slightly to the side, when he feels more than he sees somebody sit in the chair next to his one.

“Hi,” Nico says quietly.

Levi snorts, half of him feeling like it’s absurd that Nico just keeps showing up, no matter where he is, while the other half is kind of glad to have somebody to talk to. Despite everything, he doesn’t enjoy feeling like he doesn’t fit in anywhere. As mad as he is at Nico, he’s glad he’s here. He was right, anyway.

He barely turns his head, smiles at Nico, then goes back to looking out at the beach. He sees Nico fidgeting out of the corner of his eye, obviously wanting to ask but not knowing how to do it without unleashing Levi’s wrath. He seems like a wise man so far.

One last glance at Chad tells him that he’s once again completely wasted. If the deep blush on his cheeks and the way he doesn’t hold himself as carefully as he usually does weren’t enough to tell, the empty wine glass in his hand and the stain on his teeth definitely are.

His heart clenches in his chest and he suddenly doesn’t feel like keeping everything in anymore.

“You know,” he says, voice steady. “We were talking about getting married, just last month.”

Levi turns his head as Nico glances over at Chad, mouth open and brows high on his forehead, the perfect picture of surprise. Levi keeps looking at him as he continues talking.

“I caught him cheating on me three times,” he scoffs. “Every single time, I had to come home and see him balls deep in somebody else.”

“Jesus Christ, Levi,” Nico breathes, looking around as if he’s worried that somebody else might be listening to them. “Why?”

Levi shrugs. “He was my first everything. I was more afraid of losing him than I was of living with all of that.”

Nico nods, never taking his eyes off Levi’s profile. The other guests are starting to sit down around them, a quiet song has started playing and there are a couple of women gossiping about the bridesmaids’ dresses.

“I’m not telling you this to make you feel sorry for me,” Levi clarifies. “I just… find it so funny that he got so mad because I _talked_ to you, but never even thanked me for never kicking him out.”

“He probably doesn’t even realise what he did wrong,” Nico says under his breath, almost unaware of it.

“No, he does,” Levi nods. “He’s just an asshole.”

Nico lets out a laugh, and Levi can’t help but follow suit. It’s freeing, being able to say out loud so carelessly something that he has been keeping hidden for so long, almost as if it was a secret to be ashamed of. Damn, Chad really did a number on him.

“I’m sorry, Levi,” Nico mumbles when they calm down. “I don’t know what to say.”

“There’s nothing to say,” Levi sighs. “It was bound to happen. I’m glad that I was here when it did.”

“I’m glad, too,” Nico smirks.

Levi rolls his eyes, but he feels like he’s truly smiling for the first time today, maybe even this whole holiday. Chad stands up to get ready for the groom to walk down the aisle, and Levi catches his eye. He doesn’t miss the way the smile dies on Chad’s face for just a second. Maybe he still has a conscience, after all.

The wedding is as much of a shitshow as expected. The groom is obviously drunk and almost trips and falls on his face, and the bride starts arguing with him while she’s still halfway down the aisle. The bridesmaids look like they can’t breathe in their dresses and the guests never stop talking amongst themselves.

Nico and Levi spend the whole time snickering and generally being loud and annoying, considering the dirty looks that the people sitting around them keep shooting at them. Levi can honestly say that he has never cared less than in this moment.

They have to physically hold each other up when the bride trips on her dress and lands on her ass as soon as she turns to walk off the beach with her just as unstable brand new husband. Levi would feel bad for them, but they’re genuinely some of the least likeable people he’s ever met.

“You used to live with them?” he asks Nico as they’re waiting to follow the newlyweds to the restaurant.

“Yeah,” Nico confirms. “Emphasis on _lived_. There’s a reason for that.”

“I can only imagine,” Levi chuckles.

The group is lead through the sand to the same terrace they had lunch on yesterday. The tables are covered in white tablecloths, with white napkins and white chair covers. The railing is covered in white flowers, and Levi is probably going to get a headache from the monochrome theme.

Levi hesitates when he remembers that he can’t keep holding onto the only person he can stand today. The tables are organized and his seat should be next to Chad, between his friends. Chad has his own table to reach, so they separate with the promise of finding each other later.

It’s immediately supremely uncomfortable. Levi greets the few people already sitting down, but nobody answers him. The chair next to his is as empty as it is a reminder that he’s really not supposed to be here.

He’s not in high school anymore and he keeps telling himself that he’s not going to let these idiots win, but he does feel a bit shaky when he takes a deep breath to calm himself down. They’ve all obviously heard whatever Chad’s side of the story is, and they all obviously believe him. Whatever.

Levi looks up and searches for Nico with his gaze. He finds him laughing with his own friends at a table on the other side of the terrace, enjoying their presence way more than Levi is. As if he feels Levi’s eyes on him, he looks up and notices his staring.

_what’s up_, Nico mouths, smiling encouragingly. Levi shrugs and looks around, Nico following the motion and noticing all the people resolutely not talking to Levi. He bites his lower lip and seems to think about it for just a second before standing up.

His friends look at him and a few ask him where he’s going, but he keeps his eyes fixed on Levi and waves him over. Levi shakes his head, trying his best to ignore the stares now directed at him. Nico waves him over again as he steps away from the table.

Levi decides that fuck it, he has literally nothing to lose. He stands up as well and happily walks between the chairs until he reaches Nico, who wraps an arm around his shoulders and leads him away.

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to leave your friends to babysit me,” Levi says, feeling self-conscious.

“They’ll survive,” Nico shrugs. “And I’m just hanging out with you. You don’t need a babysitter.”

Levi looks up at him and smiles, allowing himself to feel grateful.

“Let’s go eat then, I’m starving!” he yells, running ahead.

Nico laughs and runs after him. It feels like stepping away from a cage and into open air for the first time in a very long time.


	6. Chapter 6

They walk down the beach for so long that they reach the very edge of the resort, far enough that there is hardly anybody else around. There is a small stand that sells the juiciest looking hamburgers Levi has ever seen, and his stomach grumbles so loudly that even Nico hears it.

“Let’s get some food into you before you attack me,” Nico jokes.

Levi rolls his eyes but follows him anyway. They both get plain cheeseburgers with a helping of fries as big as their heads and a sweating bottle of beer, then bring the tray over to a table and eat there, feet in the sand and sunshine on their backs.

They eat in silence, barely even looking at each other. Levi will admit that he feels awkward, having lunch on the beach with somebody he barely knows, but he also decides that he’s not going to be like that, not today.

“Is this too rushed?” Levi wonders out loud. “Like, leaving Chad and all.”

Nico looks up from his burger, surprised. He finishes chewing, then tilts his head to the side and looks around as if he’s thinking about what to say.

“I don’t think so,” he says. “Remember how I immediately noticed that you weren’t having a great time?”

Levi chuckles. “I should probably work on that. My face speaks for me.”

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing,” Nico shrugs.

“It is when you don’t want everybody to know that you’d rather be anywhere than there.”

“Touché,” Nico raises his hands, then looks intently at Levi. “Do _you_ think it was too rushed?”

Levi thinks about it. Does he regret stepping away from that awful situation? No, he really doesn’t. Does he still wish things could have gone differently? Definitely.

He still shakes his head. “I think it had been a long time coming. It’s just… people usually give each other a reason for breaking up, don’t they? What am I supposed to tell everybody?”

Nico looks like he’s debating saying what he’s thinking. He picks a fry and bites half of it off, chewing it with his mouth closed as he looks Levi over. Then he clears his throat and sits up straight.

“Are they going to be surprised that you broke up?”

Levi takes a second to register the pang of pain that hearing it said out loud makes him feel. He figures that it’s going to take a while to get used to it. It just still doesn’t feel right, like there’s a part he’s missing to fully understand it.

He takes so long to answer that Nico lightly kicks him under the table to get his attention back.

“I think most of them are going to be happy,” Levi shrugs. “Especially my mum.”

Nico picks up his bottle and tips it towards Levi. “To being happy, then.”

Levi smiles at him and bumps their bottles together, then takes a long swig of beer and finally allows himself to fully relax. Feet in the sand and the sound of the waves in his ears, he’s going to make the most of this day and he’s not going to let anybody stop him.

They keep chatting as they finish their meal, bonding over their hatred for jellyfish and their appreciation for the music they play around the resort, but Levi soon finds that he’s getting restless. He stands up and clears the table, then puts his hands on his hips and looks up at Nico.

“What now?” he asks.

Nico shields his eyes from the sun and looks around, smiling and making a happy noise when he seemingly finds what he’s looking for. He points to a spot in the distance over Levi’s shoulder.

“Let’s go see what’s on the other side of those rocks,” he says.

Levi turns around and, surely enough, there’s a row of rocks that blocks off a whole part of the beach. There’s a narrow break through the middle that seems to lead to the other side, though, and it does look appealing, so Levi nods and starts walking alongside Nico.

It turns out that the rocks extend over the water, so Nico and Levi settle down in the shade underneath them. The food sits heavy in Levi’s stomach and the beer is making his head swim pleasantly, so the yawn that takes over in the middle of his sentence doesn’t come as a surprise.

He turns to the side to see if Nico is as sleepy as he is, only to find himself facing his shirtless torso in all of its glory. Startled, he immediately looks away, clearing his throat instead. When he scratches the side of his face, it definitely isn’t to cover the blush he can feel on his cheeks.

“Tired?” Nico smirks.

Levi shrugs, leaning back on his elbows. “I didn’t really sleep well last night.”

Nico looks at him like he wants to apologize for something, so Levi stops him before he can even try and fully lies down. He already knows he’ll regret it when he has to get the sand out of his hair, but he’s too comfortable to care right now.

“Tell me something interesting,” Nico prompts, lying down next to him.

Levi smiles up at the sky, eyes closed. “I love the beach.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Nico lightly hits Levi’s arm with his hand. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Why?” Levi teases. He feels like being difficult.

“Because I want to get to know you.”

That breaks Levi’s resolve. He opens one eye and looks at Nico, who’s got his hands crossed behind his head and his eyes closed. The smirk on his face shows that he still knows exactly what effect his words had.

“Alright, then,” he decides, lying back down. “But if I answer, I get to ask you something.”

“Sure. I have nothing to hide.”

Levi snorts. “That’s what they all say.”

“I’m not _they_.”

“That’s a good point,” Levi shrugs. “Alright. I’m starting a new job in like, a month.”

“Are you nervous?”

“Of course I am,” Levi scoffs. “It was my turn to ask a question.”

“Sorry,” Nico chuckles. “Ask away.”

Levi thinks about it for a few seconds, then smiles to himself when he thinks of what to ask. “Are you a dog or a cat person?”

“That’s really what you want to know?” Nico laughs, faking outrage.

“It says a lot about people. Now answer.”

“I like dogs better, I think,” he admits. “Is that the right answer?”

“That’s for me to know and for you to wonder. Next question.”

Nico stays silent for long enough that Levi gets suspicious. He turns his head to the side and watches him bite his lower hip.

“I can hear the wheels turning in your head,” Levi jokes.

“Yeah, they’re not used to working so hard,” Nico doesn’t miss a beat. “What’s your favourite food?”

“That’s the meanest thing you could ask me,” Levi complains. “It’s pizza, though, of course.”

“Of course,” Nico repeats.

“Yeah,” Levi sighs.

It’s hot on the sand, but there is a breeze coming from the water that’s lulling Levi right into sleep. He tries his best to keep his eyes open and keep the conversation going, but everything feels too nice to fight.

“We’re gonna fall asleep like this, aren’t we?” Nico actually says it out loud.

“Naps are for babies,” Levi argues, but he can feel himself drifting already.

“Naps are nice,” Nico mumbles.

“_Naps are nice_,” Levi mocks him, laughing when Nico hits him again.

“Shut up,” Nico whispers.

“You shut up,” Levi answers eloquently.

The last thing he hears before finally falling asleep is Nico mumbling something about pizza shutting him up. He can’t argue with that.

-

It’s almost dark when Levi wakes up. He stretches his aching back and sits up with an amount of struggle he’s thankful nobody is there to experience.

The last moments of the dream he was having linger in the back of his mind, along with the bittersweet feeling it brought with it. All he can remember is sitting on the couch in Chad’s apartment back home, Chad next to him, and they’re watching tv with food in their hands.

It’s always been Levi’s favourite way to spend time together; their first date was pizza in front of the tv, like their first ‘I love you’ was shouted while they threw popcorn at each other. It was also in front of the tv that they yelled until Levi’s throat hurt, and it’s on the couch that Levi made Chad sleep when he caught him cheating on him.

It’s kind of rude for his mind to be reminding of all of that right now, honestly.

Nico is still asleep, mouth hanging wide open and limbs spread out carelessly. He looks ridiculous and Levi would normally wake him up to make fun of him, but he’s not in the mood. The feeling the dream left behind still sits heavy on his chest, and Levi wants nothing more than to be on his own for a bit.

He hesitates, thinking that he could just get up and leave, but he figures it’d be a bit rude, so he gathers enough courage and pokes Nico on the outside of his arm. He barely stirs. Levi tries again, this time grabbing Nico’s shoulder and shaking him a little.

“Buh?” Nico says eloquently.

Levi can’t help the smile that spreads on his lips. “Wake up.”

“What time is it?” Nico grunts, sitting up.

“Nine-ish, I think?” Levi shrugs. “We were asleep for a while.”

Nico rubs his eyes and looks up at the starry sky, then turns to Levi with a smile. “Sleep well?”

He reaches out with one hand and touches the ends of Levi’s hair, which is definitely sticking out in every direction. It would normally be a sweet gesture, but right now it just makes Levi’s heart clench painfully.

“It kind of made it worse, actually,” Levi clears his throat, subtly leaning away from Nico’s touch.

“That’s too bad,” Nico doesn’t pick up on Levi’s mood. “Do you want to go for a walk?”

Levi feels even worse, having to turn Nico down. “I think I just want to go to bed.”

“Oh. Okay,” Nico nods, but Levi can tell he wasn’t expecting that.

He wants to explain himself; he hates that Nico might think he’s lame or weird for changing mood so quickly and for no apparent reason, but that would take more energy than he has available at the moment.

“Yeah, sorry, I’m just really tired,” Levi tries.

“Of course,” Nico perks up. “Let me walk you.”

They both stand up and do their best to dust the sand off, but it’s literally everywhere, so Levi just gives up and starts walking. Nico doesn’t put his shirt back on, just falls into step with Levi and leans down to bump their shoulders together.

That gets a genuine smile out of Levi, the sheer fact that he has to bend so far down just for their shoulders to be on the same level. Nico is visibly disappointed by the turn the night has taken, but he’s also trying not to let it show too much, which Levi appreciates.

Levi guides Nico towards the hotel building, but as they walk he notices that he can see the lights and hear the music from the wedding party in the distance. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, resolutely turning away from it and walking faster towards the elevator. There, he presses the button and faces Nico.

“I think I can find my way from here,” he jokes.

Nico doesn’t press any further, just smiles at him and nods. “Good night, then.”

He goes in for a hug and Levi lets him. He squeezes his shoulders and Levi squeezes back, wishing that he could just say what he so desperately wants to say to him. He wishes he could ask him to stay with him, keep him company, but he can’t find the voice to do so.

When the elevator doors open Levi breaks the hug and steps back, smiling as best as he can and waving at Nico. He keeps the act up until the doors close, then he collapses on himself with a deep sigh.

As he watches the numbers go up, he tips his head back against the wall and thinks about how much everything has changed in a matter of a couple of days. It’s not like coming here with Chad hadn’t been a desperate last attempt at saving whatever was left of them, but it still hurts.

Especially considering what it was that actually prompted Chad to show his true colours. That part still makes no sense, and Levi is too exhausted to think about anything at all.

He walks up to his room, turns the key in the lock and mechanically strips off to get in the shower. He’s quick and purposefully only focuses on the sound of the water, then turns it off, half-heartedly dries himself off and climbs into his bed.

The last thing he sees before falling asleep is a flash of kind eyes and a genuine smile.


	7. Chapter 7

Levi is hungry, that’s all he knows. His stomach is angry at him, rumbling like thunder and effectively waking him up. He opens his eyes and immediately regrets it, the sunshine way too bright in the room. Stretching out one arm to lift his phone from his bedside table, he learns that it’s just past ten in the morning.

He slept for twelve hours, more or less. He wishes he could say that’s a first. Levi’s stomach reclaims his attention once again, reminding him that he hasn’t eaten anything in just as long.

The instinct to turn to the other side and greet the person who should be next to him is still there, he realizes with a deep sigh. He’ll admit that he hoped that a good night’s sleep would magically cure him of any residual sadness and confusion, but it looks like it’s not his lucky day. He definitely still feels like shit.

Feeling that if he continues like this he’ll ruin his day before it even starts, Levi decides that it’s just enough. He pushes the covers off himself and throws his legs off the side of the bed. Before he can think better of it, he stands up and stretches his arms up over his head.

His back pops in more places than it should, surely, but he feels calmer afterwards. He quickly puts on some clean clothes, grabs his phone and steps out of his room. He knows his way to the restaurant by now, so he quickly jogs down the stairs and turns a couple of corners to follow the smell of food.

The huge room is empty, except for a couple of people sitting in one corner. Levi turns around on his spot, and he must look more confused than he thinks, because a waitress approaches him like he’s going to start screaming at any moment.

“Good morning, sir,” she says with a smile. “What can I help you with?”

“Hi,” he answers confusedly. “Where’s everyone? From the wedding, I mean.”

She chuckles. “They were up partying well into the morning. I think they’re still sleeping. Can I bring you anything to drink?”

Levi nods, still looking around, uselessly looking for familiar faces. One in particular. “Just a coffee, thank you.”

The waitress leaves him to sit down at any table he wants, disappearing beyond the set of double doors that leads to the kitchen. Levi waits for a couple of seconds, then decides that he can’t wait anymore and gets up to raid the buffet table.

A plate full of pastries – what, he deserves it – later, he goes back to his table just in time to find his coffee already there waiting for him. He moves his chair and sits back down, ready to dig in and drown his sorrows in carbs.

It mostly works. The mix of chocolate and flaky, buttery pastries works to fill some of the void he feels inside. It’s not the healthiest thing, but it’ll have to do.

He wouldn’t say it out loud, but half of him keeps expecting Nico to stroll in, face still puffy from sleep and a soft smile just for Levi, but he never does. Levi figures that he probably joined his friends after he walked him back to his hotel room, so he must have been up late as well, having fun with them while Levi was busy being boring.

He doesn’t blame him. He came to this resort to celebrate his old housemates getting married with his friends, and he’s had to babysit Levi instead. Doesn’t matter how many times he says he doesn’t mind and that it’s not babysitting; Levi still feels like a burden.

It was his own fault for coming here without meeting Chad’s friends before, anyway. He didn’t think Chad would definitively lose his mind while they were here, that’s for sure, but still.

Huffing, Levi cleans up as much as he can, then stands up and retreats back to his room. There is a spilt second in which he thinks about going down to the beach by himself, but there’d be the risk of more human interaction, and he doesn’t feel like it.

He thankfully doesn’t meet anybody in the elevator or along the hallway. He lets himself in and jumps back onto the bed, spreading his limbs as far as they can go. The bed is comfortable and he’s still more tired than he probably has the right to be, so he just lets his eyes fall shut and goes back to sleep.

-

When he wakes up the air in the room is thick and way too warm. Levi chokes on a breath and scrambles up to go open the window and let some kind of fresh air in. Looking out at the partial view of the beach, Levi notices that the sun is much higher in the sky, so it must be well past midday.

Levi’s stomach grumbles again, proving his theory. He considers his options: face the outside world again, or…

He turns towards his bedside table, opens the drawer and hums in triumph. He sits on the side of the bed and looks through the room service menu. A phone call later, he turns on the tv and skips through the channels as he waits for the food to be sent to his room. It’s going to be that kind of day.

He gets through almost two episodes of a random cooking show before he hears a knock on the door. He jumps up and hurries to open it, fully planning on taking the food out of whoever’s hands and hiding into his room for the rest of the day. Maybe until his airplane ride back.

“Oh.”

“Hi,” Nico grins.

He’s just standing there, hair free of product covering his forehead and dressed in soft looking clothes, Levi’s lunch held in his hands. Levi is not sure he likes the flip his heart does at the sight.

“Well, hello,” Levi smiles, taking the tray with unsure hands. “Did you get hired by the hotel?”

Nico chuckles and leans against the doorjamb, arms crossed over his chest. “I intercepted the waiter on the way up,” he admits. “Where have you been all day?”

Levi feels more pleased than he’s allowed to, thinking that Nico thought so much about him that he actually went looking for him. Or maybe he’s projecting, but it feels nice anyway, so he lets himself do it.

He shrugs. “I maybe, possibly, didn’t leave this room at all.”

Leaving the door open, he steps back into the room and sits on the bed with his food. Nico follows him, closes the door and leans against it. Levi unashamedly takes the fork and stabs the pasta in his plate.

“Everybody needs a lazy day every once in a while,” Nico concedes.

“Yeah, something like that,” Levi mumbles. “Did you eat lunch yet?”

“Just finished the worst sandwich I’ve ever eaten, if you can call that lunch.”

Levi hums, but keeps eating happily. Nico watches him with a smirk on his face, but doesn’t say anything. It should probably feel incredibly awkward, but Levi has lost the ability to care.

“Do you want some?” he offers, tipping the fork towards Nico.

“No, you eat,” Nico shakes his head. “I’ll live.”

Levi pats the bed next to him, and scoots over to make more space for Nico to sit down. He pulls the plate into his lap and turns to face him. “Did you end up going to the party last night?”

Nico nods. “My friends were wondering where I was.”

A pang of guilt shoots through Levi, but Nico keeps talking before he can say anything.

“It would have been way more fun with you there, though.”

Levi blushes, but tries to keep his composure. “I doubt it. I’m not really a party animal.”

Nico smiles and looks away. “That’s exactly why it would have been better with you. Drunk guys get boring fast.”

Still shovelling food into his mouth, Levi just nods. He’s honestly at a loss for words. He has no idea how he’s meant to react here, so he doesn’t. Nico crosses his ankles and swings his legs, looking like doesn’t have a single care in the world.

The thing is, Levi kind of can’t get over the fact that Nico came looking specifically for him. He surely doesn’t have a lack of people he could spend his time with, but for some reason he chose him, and he doesn’t look like he regrets one second of it. Levi feels flattered, and maybe a bit teary.

Man, Chad really messed with the way he thinks. He can almost hear the way he’d make him feel guilty for wanting to hang out with his colleagues by himself. The worst part is that he doesn’t think he did it on purpose, he is just that awful of a person.

Levi finishes his food in record time, mulling over the idea that suddenly pops into his head. He gets a surge of energy and doesn’t want to let go of it, so he kicks one leg out and taps it against Nico’s.

“Do you want to go on an adventure with me?” he raises one eyebrow in what he hopes is a mysterious expression.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Nico answers immediately.

Laughing and feeling his heart get lighter with it, Levi sets the tray and everything on it aside and stands up. Gathering his backpack and the key to his room, he nods his head towards the door and motions for Nico to stand up.

“Follow me, then.”


	8. Chapter 8

“How on earth did you even find out about his place?”

Levi flattens the corners of the beach towel on the sand and chuckles at the wonder on Nico’s face.

“I saw it while I was on a walk the other day,” he smiles when Nico unceremoniously flops down on his own towel.

“Of course you just happened to find the most beautiful beach by mistake.”

It is a really nice spot, if Levi says so himself. They had to walk for a good while and then climb down a rickety ladder to reach it, but here the sand is soft and the water is crystal clear. There’s only enough space to set down a couple of towels and comfortably spread out, but it’s perfect.

“I wanted to come with…” Levi hesitates, then sighs. “With Chad. But he was always too lazy, so we never did.”

Nico scoffs and takes his shirt off by yanking it up from the middle of his shoulders. “I would take you anywhere, if it made you this happy.”

Levi goes wide-eyed and fakes a cough just to avoid answering that. He starts digging into his bag, but he can see that Nico is just as flustered out of the corner of his eye. His hands finally wrap around the plastic bottle he was looking for, so he busies himself with opening it and lathering his arms in sunscreen.

He comes to a point where he has to take off his shirt as well, so he does and covers his own chest and back as efficiently as he can. Nico lies serenely in his spot with his hands crossed behind his head.

Levi ignores him, but he can’t stop the embarrassed smile that spreads on his face. He glances at Nico for just a second and finds him already looking back, so he quickly looks away and clears his throat.

“Do you want me to do you?” he asks Nico before he can think of a better way to word it.

Nico smirks and rolls over onto his belly, head propped up on his hands. “Sure, a retouch wouldn’t hurt.”

Levi can still see the streaks left on his back from when he must have put on his own sunscreen and couldn’t properly spread it around, but he still takes the bottle and upends it, giving it a couple of hits on the bottom to let the lotion come out.

What looks like half of the contents splashes on Nico’s back. Nico yelps and Levi lets go of the bottle, which ends up falling on the back of Nico’s head with a loud thump.

“Ow,” Nico complains, but he’s laughing at the same time.

“I’m sorry!” Levi scrambles to clean as much as he can with his hands. “Well, you’re extra protected now.”

Nico keeps chuckling and Levi feels it under his hands. It’s in that exact moment that he realizes he’s basically been kneading Nico’s back freely. His hands stop for a split second, then he goes back to massaging the lotion into the firm skin.

He probably lingers for too long, fingers sliding down the bumps of his spine and up his sides, over his ribs and along his shoulder blades. Nico has a satisfied smile on his lips, eyes closed and expression peaceful.

“Are you gonna fall asleep?” Levi raises one eyebrow.

“I would never,” Nico frowns, but his words are already slurred.

Levi rolls his eyes and sits down next to him, leaning back on his hands and dropping his head back with a deep sigh. There is still a dull ache pressing on his stomach, but he can ignore it if he tries hard enough.

Besides, there is a lot to focus on instead of that. Everything is quiet on this beach, the only sound coming from the small waves that come up to the sand, and the birds calling out every once in a while.

Levi thinks back to when he met Nico for the first time. They were sitting kind of like they are now, and Levi was in a very similar mood of disappointment and just pure exhaustion. It’s funny how things can change so much, but stay exactly the same at the same time.

He looks away from the point in the water he had been fixed on, and focuses on the noises coming from Nico’s sleeping form. His lips are slightly parted and he’s letting out soft breaths, and Levi’s heart clenches a bit. He immediately tries to bury it as far as it can go by grabbing a fistful of sand and letting it fall on Nico’s back, trying not to wake him up.

It takes maybe longer than it should because Levi gest distracted by some seashells he sets on Nico’s arm in a line up to his shoulder, but soon the only parts of Nico that fully emerge from the sand are his arms and head. Everything else is nicely covered by the mound of sand that Levi poured on him.

Levi twists his torso the other way and takes his phone out of his bag, then quickly snaps a picture, chuckling under his breath.

“Wha-“ Nico stirs, trying to lift his head.

“Good morning,” Levi laughs out loud. “Sleep well?”

Nico lifts his upper body with a huff, then realizes the full extent of what Levi did and looks at him with outrage written clearly on his face. Levi laughs at him and yelps when Nico suddenly stands up and shakes the sand off.

“Stop! You’re spraying sand everywhere!” Levi yells, protecting his face with his hands.

“And whose fault is that?” Nico finally stops, standing with his hands on his hips. He’s still covered in sand from head to toe.

Levi shrugs. “I didn’t hear you complaining.”

Nico squints menacingly at him, then seems to get an idea as he slowly walks towards Levi and tilts his head to the side.

“What are you doing?” Levi asks nervously, sensing that something is going to happen and that he might not like it.

“You’re full of sand, haven’t you noticed?” Nico smiles creepily. “Don’t you want to get it off?”

“No, thank you, I’m o-“

Nico swoops down and grabs his ankles before he can finish the sentence. Levi screams at the top of his lungs, but he can’t fight Nico dragging him down the stretch of sand and right into the water, crashing down himself as soon as the backs of legs make contact with a wave.

They both end up spluttering with the water up to their shoulders, laughing so hard they can’t form words. Levi pushes the dripping wet hair off of his forehead and sits back, watching Nico take off his shorts and just keep on his underwear.

“You’re absurd,” he says, still breathless.

“What? It’s full of sand!” Nico defends himself.

Levi rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling so hard that his face hurts. Nico throws his pants towards the shore, then sneakily walks his fingers up Levi’s leg and tugs on the hem of his pants. “C’mon.”

“No, thank you,” Levi playfully swats his hand away, but the truth is that his heart is beating way too loudly in his ears.

“Respect that,” Nico raises his hands. “But you don’t know what you’re missing.”

With that, he gets up and goes deeper into the water, until he can dive in and disappear under the surface. Levi watches him from afar, biting his lower lip and fighting an internal war he hopes isn’t too obvious.

Is this too fast? Is _this_ even anything? Is he making everything up in his head? Is he just going crazy?

He feels guilty for letting himself enjoy Nico’s attention, and he feels sad when he realizes how long it had been since he’d felt these kinds of feelings at all. The mix of the two doesn’t really sit well with him.

Part of him is telling him to stand up and leave, that this is unacceptable, that he should spend a bit more time moping around before he’s allowed to have fun again. The other part is trying to get the first one to shut the hell up.

Levi smiles to himself and slides his pants down his legs as fast as he can, kicking them away and stumbling his way over to where Nico is floating on his back.

Humming the soundtrack to Jaws, Levi gets closer and closer, then jumps on him and sinks him. Nico splutters and flails, holding onto Levi and bringing him down with him.

Levi kicks and punches at random, but he finally manages to stand back up, gasping for breath and pushing the hair off his face. Nico is nowhere to be seen though, so Levi turns around to look for him, as if he could be anywhere.

All of a sudden, he hears a loud splash, and a pair of arms wraps around his legs and lifts him up out of the water. Squealing in surprise, Levi holds onto Nico’s arms for dear life and kicks his legs out, but Nico is strong enough to keep him where he is with seemingly no struggle.

“Don’t throw me, don’t throw me, please!” Levi calls out. “I’m gonna get water up my nose.”

Nico laughs at him, but stops spinning them around anyway. He loosens his hold on Levi’s legs and lets him slide down into the water. Levi turns on the way down, and he ends up standing right in front of Nico, hands on his shoulders and head tipped up just right.

The air seems to shift, and Levi suddenly becomes hyper aware of every point in which they’re touching. He pulls back his hands as if he was burned, but Nico keeps his arms loosely wrapped around his waist. Levi only finds the courage to look up at his chin.

“Have I told you that you have the prettiest eyes?” Nico says quietly.

“Don’t,” Levi whispers. “Just don’t.”

“Why?” Nico bends his head to try and catch his eye.

Levi leans back and looks away, wrapping his arms around himself defensively. Nico doesn’t give up, though. He steps closer again and gently grabs Levi’s chin, guiding him to turn his head and look at him.

“Tell me I’m not imagining this,” he says. “It’s not just me.”

“Nico, I…” Levi shakes his head. “It’s literally been one day of fighting with Chad.”

“He broke up with you,” Nico reminds him, and it still hurts more than it should. “And you said it yourself, that it was going to happen sooner or later. You haven’t been emotionally invested in that relationship in a long time.”

“You don’t know anything.” Levi tries to defend… whatever.

“Am I wrong, though?”

Levi swallows the lump in his throat and looks Nico in the eyes. He can feel the exact moment something clicks in his mind, letting months’ worth of worries go and allowing himself to feel everything there is too feel right now, whether it be fear, excitement, uncertainty, or relief.

He leans up as Nico bends down, touching their foreheads together and holding him in place with a firm hand on the back of his neck.

“I want to,” Levi says so quietly that even he has trouble hearing it.

“You can.”

A wave pushes Levi forward and that’s all the encouragement he needs.

He smiles and leans up to connect their lips. Nico tastes like sea water and sunshine, and Levi immediately can’t get enough of him: they’re touching from their chests to their knees, but it’s still not enough. Nico slides his hands down Levi’s back and grabs the back of his thighs, Levi taking the hint and wrapping his legs around his waist.

Nico spins them around and laughs against Levi’s lips, squeezing him and wrapping himself around him seemingly from everywhere. Levi’s heart is beating in his ears, and he hasn’t felt so much and with such intensity in so long that he never wants it to end.

“You’re amazing,” Nico whispers.

“Shut up,” Levi interrupts him, completely breathless.

They kiss in the water until their skin gets wrinkly and Levi starts to shiver. Nico notices the goosebumps on his arms and walks them back to their clothes. They put their pants back on and stare at each other, lips plump and cheeks rosy.

“Want to come back to mine?” Nico tries.

Levi nods even though his heart is in his throat. He watches Nico pick up their stuff and then accepts the hand he offers. Together, they climb back up the ladder and awkwardly walk in the sand towards the cabins, giggling at each other’s attempts at falling and probably looking ridiculous in the meantime.

That’s the least of their worries, though, when they hear an obviously drunken voice calling out their names from the distance.


	9. Chapter 9

“Where are you lovebirds going?” Chad yells.

Nico and Levi stop in their tracks and turn to look at him, and Levi can feel the smile drain from his face. He watches Chad stumble and almost fall on his face, and he only feels pity, for him and for himself. Was he always this sad of a person and he never saw it? Could he have been this naïve the whole time?

“Go away, Chad,” he says, voice sad. “Leave us alone.”

Chad lets out an ugly laugh, coming closer and standing in front of them with his hands on his hips and a sour expression on his face. His eyes flit from Levi to Nico and back again, dipping down to notice their still grasped hands.

He scoffs. “Of course you want me to leave you alone.”

Levi lets go of Nico’s hand, but it’s only so that he can cross his arms over his chest and stare Chad down, head held high and expression unwavering.

“What’s your problem?” he deadpans, tipping his chin up. “What more do you want?”

“Don’t you see how ridiculous this is?” Chad points between them. “Just come back and we can forget all about this.”

Confused and saddened by the fact that this apparently needs to happen here and now, Levi shakes his head. “I can think of something more ridiculous.”

“And what’s that, huh?” Chad spits. “Somebody who was there for you when nobody else was? The only person who truly loved you all these years? Who’d do anything for you?”

“That’s not yourself you’re describing, I hope.”

Chad seems actually hurt by that. He takes a step back and looks Levi in the eyes for a few seconds, and Levi doesn’t recognize what he sees beyond them anymore. Chad then seems to remember that Nico is there, so he turns and walks over to him with a finger raised in what he probably thinks is a menacing way.

“Chad, leave him alone,” Levi stops him before he can do anything, stepping between them. “It’s not his fault.”

Chad laughs but it sounds so evil that it makes Levi’s insides turn. “It’s not, huh?”

Nico hasn’t said a word all this time, but he chooses this moment to shove Chad away from him. Levi knows that this would normally turn into a fistfight in no time, but Chad seems to either be too drunk or he doesn’t care for some reason.

“You know what,” he says, raising his hands. “Whatever. Go sleep with him as well. He’s good.”

Levi frowns. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, he hasn’t told you?” Chad laughs in his face.

“Shut up,” Nico perks up, catching their attention. “I’m serious.”

“I bet you are,” Chad smirks. “I’m sure you can’t wait to get all over that.”

“If you say one more-“

“Shut the fuck up, both of you!” Levi interrupts them. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Nico looks panicked, shaking his head and looking at Levi apologetically. Chad watches them and laughs, again, that same mean laugh that sends shivers up Levi’s spine.

“Before this gentleman tried to save you from the evil man I am, he happily had sex with me.”

The air feels like it’s frozen. Levi repeats Chad’s words in his head a few times, but they make no sense.

“What?” he breathes.

“Yeah!” Chad exclaims way too happily. “Remember when I told you I was going to find my friends, the first day we got here? I was actually getting my di-“

“Enough!” Nico shouts over him. “Stop.”

Levi holds onto the very last string of hope inside of him. “Stop making up this stuff, you’re getting sad.”

“I know you wish I was making it up,” Chad shrugs. “Ask him. He was there too.”

Hands balled up into fists, Levi looks up at Nico and watches as he gets more and more uncomfortable holding his gaze. He really doesn’t want to believe this.

“Is it true?” he finds the voice to say.

Nico opens his mouth but doesn’t say anything. Levi can physically feel the moment his heart breaks.

“Nico?” he says his name as a last resort, barely more than a whisper.

He just hangs his head and doesn’t even try to defend himself. That’s all Levi needs.

“You can both go rot in hell,” he snarls, then turns around and leaves.

Nico apparently finds his voice and calls out his name, but it’s too late. Levi can hear Chad and him arguing, maybe can even make out the sound of a punch, but he doesn’t stop, and he doesn’t turn to look. All he does is walk increasingly faster until he’s running in the sand and barely keeping the tears in.

He’s such an idiot, he should have known that something was wrong. He feels so deeply humiliated and heartbroken for having let both of them play him like this. That’s what he was to them, just a game to play and then throw out when they got bored enough.

It’s his own fault, really. He knew Chad is the way he is; he should have dumped him years ago, but he never did because he’s a coward and can’t bear the thought of being alone. He should have known.

As soon as he gets to the hotel he throws the door open and climbs up the stairs, reaching his floor and finally getting to close the door to his room behind him. He leans against it and lets out a sob that echoes throughout the whole room, his legs slowly giving out from under him.

Levi hangs his head and holds himself, arms wrapped around his own chest as he just lets go and cries. His cheeks are still burning from the shame, he just feels so stupid and gullible and he’s sure Chad will go and tell all his friends about how dumb Levi is, and they’ll have a good old laugh at his expense.

Nico, though. An ugly sound forces its way out of Levi’s throat as he buries his face in his hands. He can’t believe he really was that person; the one who went from the arms of the wrong person right into the lying hold of the first guy he saw. No, even better, the guy who his boyfriend cheated on him with.

How fucked up can he be to just sit next to Levi as he opened up to him, made him feel listened to and safe, while being part of the problem in the worst way possible? And why the fuck did Levi just fall for it, like the idiot he could swear he’s not but he apparently is?

A knock on the door scares him so much that he actually jumps.

“Levi, please, let me explain,” Nico says loudly.

Levi grinds his teeth and takes a deep breath, feeling the sadness and shame being replaced by pure anger. He scrambles up to his feet and opens the door. On the other side, Nico is standing with his fist still raised.

“What else do you fucking want?” he spits, not holding anything back.

“Please,” Nico repeats. “It’s not like that.”

He has dried tear marks on his cheeks and his eyes are red, but Levi only gets angrier at the sight.

“Oh? You didn’t fuck my boyfriend and then try to fuck me without saying anything?”

Nico sighs and shakes his head, face scrunched up in a sad expression. “He didn’t tell me he had a boyfriend, I had no idea.”

“That’s not an excuse for not telling me,” Levi scoffs. “You knew when you saw us together.”

“Yeah, and that’s why I wanted to talk to you. I couldn’t stand you being treated like that.”

Levi has to force himself to stay still and not kick him straight in the ass.

“And where in ‘talking to me’ did sleeping with me stand?” he raises one eyebrow.

Nico has the decency to look ashamed. “I just… got to know you. I didn’t know how to tell you.”

“You had so many occasions. You just didn’t want to.”

“You have to believe me, I-“

“I’m having a hard time believing anything right now,” Levi interrupts him. “Just go, save us both the time. I don’t care.”

Nico looks at him pleadingly, and a single tear falls down his cheek. Levi wants to slam the door in his face.

“You don’t look like you don’t care,” Nico says.

Levi’s fingers clench around the handle of the door he’s still holding. “You don’t know anything about me.”

Nico just stands there quietly for a few seconds. He sniffs and breathes shakily, then stands up straight.

“You have it written in your eyes,” he whispers.

Levi scoffs and shakes his head, taking one step back and looking up at the ceiling to stop the tears that threaten to spill over. His heart aches and he’s so tired of being treated like this, he doesn’t have the strength to keep going.

“Go fuck yourself and leave me alone,” he says between his teeth.

Nico tries to say something, but Levi just closes the door and locks it. He steps away from it and sits down on the bed when he hits it with the backs of his knees, staying perfectly still as Nico knocks one more time and says something, then seems to give up and leaves.

It takes a long time for Levi’s heart to calm down its erratic beating. He takes long, deep breaths but they do nothing to stop the flurrying of thoughts in his head. It gets to a point where he has to stand up abruptly and rush to the bathroom, thinking that the might be sick.

Just a week ago he was in Chad’s house, which is where he spent most of his time anyway, and he was lying with Chad’s head in his lap as he fantasized about what their wedding would be like. He thought that giving him a second – who is he kidding, third, fourth, fifth – chance was the right thing to do.

Now he’s completely alone in a place he doesn’t know, heart broken and ego so bruised he can’t see how he could ever get up from this. He has a thought that sends a spark of shame through him, but he figures that he has nothing to lose at this point.

Holding onto the wall as he goes, he reaches his backpack lying in the middle of the room and fishes his phone out of it. Hands trembling and eyes blurry with tears, he dials the familiar number and lifts his phone to his ear. It only rings twice before it’s picked up.

“Hey, honey.”

“Mom,” Levi sobs. “I’m sorry, I just… something happened.”

“What did he do?” she asks, because she knows, of course she does.

Levi just cries harder and tells her everything. He falls asleep listening to her tell him that he deserves better, and he almost believes it.


	10. Chapter 10

Walking as fast as he can, Levi keeps his head down and tries to hide as best as he can his struggle in pulling his suitcase along. Luckily the way to the main road is paved, but he still has to walk past the restaurant, where everybody is having breakfast together.

He doesn’t stop when he hears shushing and the volume of the chatter goes down significantly, and he doesn’t turn when it turns into whispering. He just keeps walking and tries to put as much distance between himself and them as he can.

Honestly, Levi just wants to leave. He had booked the plane tickets home in the middle of the night, after he woke up with his phone dead in his hand and a headache that almost made him cry again. He was supposed to leave with Chad the next day, but there’s not a chance in hell that will happen.

So yeah, he’s running away because he can’t stand to be in this place for a moment longer. Unwelcome images keep flashing in his mind everywhere he turns, and it’s just torture at this point.

He’s sure nobody will mind. The wedding party had all these activities planned for the guests, but Levi is pretty sure that the bride and groom never even knew that he was there, so they definitely won’t care that he’s gone. Neither will the rest of the guests.

Levi forbids himself from thinking about who he wishes would care. It doesn’t matter anymore. All he wants right now is to go back home and get ready for his new job.

The reminder almost surprises him. He hadn’t forgotten about that, but he kind of had. As he steps into the taxi that will bring him to the airport, he finds relief in the fact that soon he gets to just start over. He’ll be around new people and he’ll be doing the job he loves and prepared so hard for, and he’ll be okay.

It’s bittersweet, knowing that he’ll soon get to forget and move on. Maybe not forget, but surely get over it. He doesn’t want to mope over people who don’t care about him forever.

There’s only one step he has to take before he can start this magical new life he’s imagined for himself: and that’s getting back all the stuff he left at Chad’s apartment. And there’s a lot of it.

Whatever. That’s a problem for later. Right now, he pays the taxi driver and hikes his backpack over his shoulders, rolling into the airport pretending to know what he’s doing and hoping that everything works out.

-

He wouldn’t admit it even if his life depended on it, but Levi stands outside Chad’s building for a good twenty minutes before he musters up the courage to walk inside. The doorman smiles at him and asks him how he’s doing, and Levi dies inside a bit when he has to tell him they won’t be seeing each other anymore.

He always liked the man. He was very good at keeping the door open as Levi stormed out after fighting with Chad for the hundredth time that month.

His hand trembles as he presses the button to call the elevator. He’s done this so many times before that it feels like second nature, the familiar weird noise when he passes the third floor, the stain on the mirror that’s supposedly been there for thirty years. He thinks he’s going to miss it.

What he’s not going to miss is the feeling of waiting for Chad to answer the door, uncertainty and uneasiness swirling uncomfortably in his stomach. He hates not knowing what version of him he’s going to get today, just like he did the whole time they were together.

The door finally opens, and it reveals Chad looking so bad that Levi almost doesn’t recognize him.

“Um, hi,” Levi says, still taken aback.

Chad has huge, dark bags under his eyes, his hair is visibly dirty and he’s wearing clothes that he normally would never be caught in. He looks awful and Levi pointedly doesn’t feel guilty for being happy about it.

“Your things are all in the living room,” Chad mumbles.

Levi nods and slides past him, walking into the apartment like he’s done a million times. His blankets, his books, the huge pile of his clothes, and his toothbrush sitting pristinely on top of the whole thing.

He doesn’t know if he wants to laugh or cry more. He picks up the toothbrush and turns it around in his hand, looking at it but listening for the sound of Chad’s shuffling feet coming closer. Levi turns and finds him leaning on the doorjamb, arms crossed over his chest. They look at each other in silence for a while.

It’s surreal, is what it is. Levi feels like he’s just wasted whole years of his life on a useless relationship that left him with absolutely nothing positive. It sounds harsh and it feels even worse, but it’s sadly true. The way Chad is looking at him is definitely not helping his case.

Levi points the toothbrush at him. “It’s really over, isn’t it?”

Chad shifts around and clears his throat, looking like having this conversation is the last thing he wants to be having right now. In fact, he looks like he can’t wait to go back to bed. Levi suddenly gets an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He lowers his gaze to Chad’s neck and immediately spots the love bite, colour stark against his skin. He then notices that his pants are actually inside out, and it really shouldn’t have taken him this long to figure it out.

Smiling sadly, he throws the toothbrush at his feet. “I’m gonna let you go back to whoever you have in your bed.”

Chad looks surprised for just a second. “You were always too clever for me.”

Levi tries, but he can’t keep his mouth shut. He puts down everything he had picked up and steps up to Chad, taking a good look at his face.

“I was actually, seriously, fully in love with you,” Levi says matter-of-factly.

“I know,” Chad answers in the same tone.

“_You know_?” Levi repeats. “That’s it?”

Chad shrugs. “I don’t know how to tell you what you want to hear.”

“Did you even ever love me?” Levi scoffs.

This whole thing hasn’t stopped feeling like a real life nightmare since the moment Levi set foot on that beach. Was it haunted? Did he curse himself for life by just existing on it, and that’s why all of this is happening like this? That must be it. There’s no other explanation.

“I think so,” Chad nods.

“You _think_ so? Years of being together, and you _think_ you loved me?”

Chad shrugs like he’s talking about his plans for the weekend. Levi feels like he’s going crazy.

“You’re unbelievable,” he raises his hands and shakes his head, stepping away from Chad.

Going back to the pile of his things, Levi gathers as much of it as he can in his arms and marches towards the door. He stops with one foot in and one foot out, turns to face Chad and takes a deep breath.

“I hope you have the life I obviously couldn’t give you,” he says, trying not to get choked up. “Goodbye, Chad.”

“Bye, Levi.”

And with that, Levi steps out and lets the door close behind him for the very last time. He takes a shaky breath, starts walking and doesn’t stop. It’s done, then. He has no reason to see Chad ever again, he can go on living his life without being weighed down by his lying, cheating ass.

It should feel like the most relieving moment of his life, but there’s an edge pressing right into his chest that still hurts like a motherfucker. Surely he’ll be proud for sticking up for himself eventually, but for now he just feels drained of any energy he might have had. He’s tired and he’s sad, and he just wants to take a nap.

The elevator ride seems faster and there is nobody else walking around, as if the whole building is trying to make things as quick and easy as possible for Levi to leave. He thinks even the doorman looks proud as he passes him on the way out. Levi is probably projecting, but he’ll take whatever helps him out.

Levi manages to take the first breath of fresh air in what feels like years only when he’s halfway down the street, far enough from Chad that not everything reminds him of him, and in the middle of enough people to remember that his problems matter so little that it should be laughable.

He bumps into a girl as he doesn’t really pay attention to where he’s going and apologizes profusely, but she just tells him it’s okay and smiles at him. Levi smiles back and keeps walking.


	11. Chapter 11

_A month later_

The first day of work is pretty uneventful. The hospital is new and shiny to Levi’s eyes, so it almost doesn’t matter when the only things they let him do are absolutely disgusting; he wants to believe that they’re helpful to somebody, somewhere, anyway.

So far he’s been on blood drawing duty because he’s apparently the only one who doesn’t make the patients cry or scream or both at the same time. He’s decided he wants to take it as a compliment. This week they’re supposedly being switched around, so he’s crossing his fingers that it gets more exciting.

His colleagues are nice. They still don’t know each other enough to really tell, but Levi likes the group he was assigned to and they seem to like him, so he feels like it’s going well. The doctors they’ve met so far are also better than Levi could have ever hoped, making settling in and getting used to all of this easier.

It is a dream come true. The first time he got to put his white coat on he almost cried tears of joy, looking at his reflection in the mirror and feeling pride swell in his chest. He’s done a damn good job, if he can say so himself.

He thankfully hasn’t had much time to think about… stuff. Memories of sand between his toes, sun on his shoulders and dark eyes smiling at him keep trying to force their way to the forefront of his mind, but he’s been pretty good at pushing them away. Spending most of his day at work helps, even if the other interns don’t really make it easy on him.

“I wish I could tan like that,” Taryn grabs his arm and lifts it, twisting it every way possible and then some.

“I love me some sunscreen,” Levi chuckles.

“I’m so jealous that you got to go to the beach at all.”

Levi breathes a sigh of relief when he’s saved from having to answer that by Dr. Webber walking into the room and clapping his hands to get all of the interns’ attention.

“Good morning everybody!” he exclaims. “Who is ready to save some lives today?”

He’s way too chipper for this hour of the day, but it does work in putting Levi in a good mood, so he’ll take it.

“I sincerely doubt that cleaning up sores is ‘saving lives’”, someone mumbles.

Dr. Webber hears it, of course. He smiles serenely and looks at every single one of their faces, nodding and linking his hands behind his back. “Then I guess you’re not interested in observing a surgery today?”

That makes the whole room fall silent, and then a chorus of interested murmurs starts. Levi rocks back and forth on his feet, trying not to look as excited as he actually is. It’s all happening, he’s finally going to be able to be in a real surgery. Well, if he impresses Dr. Webber enough. He starts by trying to look as calm and collected as possible to maximize his likeability.

“Alright,” Dr. Webber concedes after a few more seconds of chatter. “I’ve been watching all of you the past few weeks, and I’ve decided who is going to be able to observe Dr. Kim’s hip replacement surgery later today.”

Hip replacement, so it’s ortho. Levi mentally shrugs, figuring that he can’t really knock it until he tries it. Anyway, he’d literally watch anything, if it meant he gets to scrub in and stand right next to the surgeons. He also hasn’t met this particular doctor yet, so that’s going to be interesting.

If they were observed for weeks it doesn’t really matter now, but Levi still puts on his most charming smile as Dr. Webber lets them suffer through the suspense some more.

“Dr. Parker, Dr. Schmitt,” he calls them all of a sudden. “Congratulations. The surgery is in half an hour in O.R. 2. The rest of you, off to find your attendings you go.”

Taryn slaps Levi on the back as she walks past him, and a few of the interns glare at him on their way out, but Levi is too busy metaphorically patting himself on the back to care. Casey bumps their shoulders together when they’re the only people left in the room, and they smile like idiots all the way to the O.R.

It’s going to be a great day.

-

It’s absolutely not a great day. In fact, it might be the worst, most laughable day of Levi’s life.

He tries his best to hide behind Casey, but he’s not that much taller than he is and he’s definitely not bigger, so he probably just looks ridiculous, hunching behind a colleague and not trying to take a peek of the operating table like everybody else. He doesn’t care about how he looks, as long as nobody pays any attention to him.

His heart still hasn’t fully calmed down from the shock of leaning forward to see the surgeon’s hands better and looking up, only to find that they belong to none other than Nico. There is no way he’s mistaken: as much as it makes him want to laugh and weep at the same time, he’d recognize those eyes anywhere.

“Can we let the interns have a closer look?” Dr. Webber suddenly perks up.

A few nurses move to the side and Casey steps forward, so Levi has no choice but to follow him, keeping his chin tucked against his chest and his eyes low, praying under his breath that Nico doesn’t notice him.

He doesn’t, apparently. He explains to them what he’s doing in a voice Levi has never heard him use before, all professional and teacher-like, but he never looks at them or lets them ask questions. He’d be disappointed in any other circumstance, but right now he’s counting his blessings.

The surgery doesn’t take long at all. When they get dismissed Levi grabs Casey and uses him as a human shield all the way outside, then breaks into a run and goes back to their changing room, sitting on the first bench he sees and hanging his head between his knees, hands linked between his neck.

Why is this happening to him, right here, right now? Did the curse he picked up in the resort follow him all the way over here? He would never, but he’s sure that if he were to tell anybody they wouldn’t believe him, that’s how ridiculous all of this is.

He tries to think of a moment, a split second, a single word in which Nico might have told him what he does for a living, but he comes up short. They somehow managed to never talk about work or even where they live, and apparently is the universe’s way of punishing him. He didn’t even know what his last name was.

The only concrete memory he had of him is the picture he took that almost perfect evening on the beach, of Nico covered in white sand and colourful seashells, sleeping peacefully. Levi hasn’t looked at it since he took it, and he doesn’t plan on doing it now.

He does remember why that evening was _almost_ perfect.

So this is his life, now. He seriously can’t believe how fast this dream job turned into a nightmare, but he guesses he should have expected it. Nothing can just be easy and fun for him, can it? Maybe he can just avoid Nico forever, or at least as long as possible, and by the time they’re forced to meet he’ll have forgotten Levi. Maybe he already did.

Levi can only hope.

-

Of course, hope does absolutely nothing. It probably even made things worse. Levi is starting to find it amusing, at this point.

He stays behind the group of interns walking down the hallway, head held low and only speaking when he’s directly addressed. He’s basically trying to disappear; he would actually hide somewhere if it didn’t mean potentially losing his job.

His group and him were assigned to ortho for the day, because apparently it was the only specialty they hadn’t explored in the time they’ve been here, and Nico – Dr. Kim, Levi reminds himself – had asked for some interns today. Aren’t coincidences just wonderful.

They reach the patient’s room too quickly for Levi’s taste, but once they’re there he gets to hide in a corner and pretend he doesn’t exist. Yes, that’s how he’s going to handle this, and he’s not going to let anybody shame him, doesn’t matter how much Taryn looks at him like he’s crazy.

Nico is already in there, talking to the patient and scrolling through his tablet, not paying any mind to the group of interns. He really seems like a totally different person than Levi thought, uncaring and almost annoyed by their mere presence, even if he was the one to ask for them.

“Is everybody here?” Nico asks, half-heartedly counting them.

Levi watches him open a list of their names on his tablet with bated breath, feeling like he knows what is going to happen even before it does.

Nico reads the list for a few seconds, then looks up. “Dr. Schmitt, will you present the case?”

Swearing under his breath, Levi pushes the people in front of him aside and stands next to the patient’s bed, pointedly not looking at Nico. He still notices the surprised look on his face out of the corner of his eye, but he doesn’t let his gaze waver from the patient’s.

“Hellen Samuels, thirty years old, broke her arm in three spots as she-“ Levi hesitates for a second, squinting at his notes. “As she fell from a tree.”

She shrugs, then winces in pain. “There was a kitten stuck in it.”

A chuckle goes around the room and Levi makes the mistake of turning his head as he smiles. He meets Nico’s gaze and holds his breath as neither of them reacts. After a few seconds that feel like hours, Nico clears his throat and taps his fingers on the tablet.

“Right,” he says. “Schmitt, you’re on this case, you can prep her for surgery. The rest of you can follow me to the next room.”

Levi nods and moves closer to the bed as everybody walks out of the room. Nico stops before following them, looking at Levi like he wants to say something, but Levi turns his back to him, hoping that he’ll take the hint and not even try. Luckily, when he looks over his shoulder, Nico is gone.

Sighing noisily, he finally relaxes and tries to focus on the task at hand: getting Hellen ready for her surgery. He fumbles with the IV pole for a few seconds, fingers unsteady and mind running too fast for him to catch up with it. He’s freaking out and he hates himself for it.

Hellen notices. “Are you okay?” she asks him, laying a hand on his arm.

Levi closes his eyes for a few seconds, then forces a smile on his face and nods. “Of course. No worries.”

She still doesn’t look convinced, but she lets him check her bandage without asking anything else. He leaves her with the nurse that walks in at one point, excusing himself and walking out of the room.

He searches for the nearest exit, needing to get some fresh air as soon as possible, or he feels like he’s going to be sick everywhere. He quickly walks down the stairs and finally reaches the ground floor, pushing open the door that leads to the little internal court.

Dipping his head back, Levi gives himself a few minutes to just stare at the sky and breathe. It’s a beautiful day, only a few white, fluffy clouds dotting the blue sky, and the sun is pleasantly warm on his back. If he closes his eyes and doesn’t think too hard, he can almost convince himself he’s back on the beach.

Of course, it doesn’t last long, but he’s expecting it when he hears the door he came through open, and the sound of footsteps coming closer. He slowly lowers his head and looks over his shoulder.

“What are you doing here?” Nico asks him.

Well, that’s off to a good start. Levi scoffs and rolls his eyes. “What does it look like I’m doing?” he points to the scrubs he’s wearing. “I’m working.”

“You’re a surgeon?” Nico raises his eyebrows, sounding incredulous.

“_You’re_ a surgeon?”

“Yeah,” Nico tugs on his dark blue scrubs shirt. “I’m sorry, I just… I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Me neither,” Levi mumbles mostly to himself.

They watch each other in silence, both waiting for the other to say or do something, but neither of them moves. It’s so incredibly awkward, but Levi kind of enjoys seeing Nico break little by little under his unwavering gaze. He feels like he has the upper hand here.

“It’s nice to see you,” Nico tries.

Levi shakes his head. He can’t do this. “I have to go.”

He starts walking towards the door, but before he can get there he feels Nico’s fingers wrap around his wrist, tugging him back closer to him.

“Can we talk?” he asks. “Please.”

“No,” Levi pulls his arm back. “I have a patient to attend to.”

He steps away once again, but Nico follows him. He looks sad, genuinely so, but Levi doesn’t feel any sympathy for him. If it didn’t turn out that Nico is basically his boss, Levi would probably be screaming every rude thing he can think of at him. He really doesn’t want to lose his job because of him, though.

“I don’t want to talk to you, I don’t want to see you, I don’t want anything to do with you,” Levi spells it out.

“I’m sorry,” Nico says, looking down at the ground.

“Yeah, yeah,” Levi rolls his eyes. “Save it for someone who cares.”

He’s being terribly rude and he normally would never, but these are extenuating circumstances and he feels like he has a right to be like this, at least for a while.

Turning around before Nico can answer in any way, Levi walks back into the building and finds the first available bathroom to hide into. When he gets the door of the stall closed behind him, he buries his face in his hands and lets out a muffled scream.


	12. Chapter 12

A couple of days go by in this terribly uncomfortable situation. Levi tenses up every time he spots Nico or even hears his voice around the hospital, and even his colleagues start picking up on it. Taryn goes as far as starting to warn him when she sees him coming, but she doesn’t ask why. Levi is glad for that.

He doesn’t want to purposefully be difficult or resentful, but he still feels like he’s going to be sick every time he thinks about… just every time he lets himself think. All he wants to do is put on some gloves and use a scalpel, mind focused on the matter at hand and nothing else.

That’s not how it works, apparently, because there are more incidents than he would like in which he’s forced to interact with Nico, be it because he’s still on ortho, or because he’s somehow always the only intern around when he needs something. Levi feels like the universe is playing some kind of joke on him.

There’s one particular instance that makes Levi seriously consider asking to be transferred somewhere else.

He’s observing a surgery once again because Dr. Webber had decided that the reason why he’s so disciplined when he’s on Nico’s service is because he particularly likes ortho, when the truth is that he’s always two seconds away from throwing something at Nico’s head.

He only stops himself because, as much as it annoys him to admit, Nico is brilliant at what he does, and he would never miss an opportunity to learn. Who the hands belong to doesn’t really matter.

Except for when they’re Nico’s and he’s doing something to a patient’s leg, and Levi doesn’t really know what it is because Dr. Webber keeps cutting in to suggest that Nico let Levi do the easiest manoeuvre.

“I don’t know that he’s ready,” Nico tries.

“Nonsense!” Dr. Webber exclaims. “It’s the perfect occasion to let him try. You’ll be there in case he needs you.”

Levi refrains from scoffing. Nico looks up and considers his options for a few seconds, then lifts his hands and takes a step back. Levi takes a deep breath and steps in, sliding his hands in and revelling in the spark of adrenaline that shoots through him when he feels bone under his fingers.

He’s already had a few moments of realization that he really gets to work people’s bodies from the inside, but this time isn’t any different. He feels the breath rush out of him and a small smile spreads on his face. He doesn’t get to feel like that for long, of course.

He’s pretty sure that he’s only supposed to push against something and that should be it, but when he feels around for a bit and doesn’t find the right spot, he starts to panic.

“Uh, I’m sorry, I don’t-“ Levi starts, and Nico immediately picks up on it, interrupting him.

“It’s okay, there’ll be plenty of times to try again,” he reassures him.

Dr. Webber moves before Levi can pull his hands back. “Why wait for another time when we’re here right now? Dr. Kim can guide Dr. Schmitt’s hands, can’t he?”

Nico and Levi look at each other over their masks for longer than is considered to be normal, if the way the nurse next to Levi shifts and clears her throat is anything to go by. Levi raises one eyebrow as if he’s challenging Nico to say no and then have to explain why.

He doesn’t. In fact, Levi can’t fully see it, but he smirks and nods, stepping closer to the table and covering Levi’s hands with his. It’s a bit of an awkward angle, but he manages to take hold of Levi’s fingers and guide them to feel for the place they’re supposed to be touching.

When he gets there, he puts pressure on Levi’s index finger and helps him do the manoeuvre with ease. Levi doesn’t realize that he’s been holding his breath until Nico says out loud, but quiet enough that he’s the only one meant to hear it, that he can relax now.

Levi suddenly pulls his hands back like he’s been burned, then clears his throat and tries his best to compose himself. What the fuck, honestly. He’s being ridiculous.

“That was good,” Dr. Webber encourages him when neither Nico nor Levi says anything.

“Yeah, it was very interesting,” Levi nods, then turns back to face Nico. “Thank you, Dr. Kim.”

Nico’s answer comes in the form of a blush high on his cheeks that Levi is sure he’s the only one who notices. He takes it back: they’re both ridiculous. He still wants out of this situation as soon as possible.

“If you’re done here, I’m going to take Schmitt back with me,” Dr. Webber saves him. “He’s too nice to say it, but his shift ended an hour ago.”

It’s not that Levi is nice, he had just honestly forgotten. He glances at the clock on the wall and finds that he was, in fact, supposed to be home a while ago. Guess time flies when you’re having fun? He mentally slaps himself for even having that thought.

“Thank you for this opportunity,” he catches a few people’s eyes and lingers for just a second too long on Nico’s, then turns and follows Dr. Webber out of the O.R.

He breathes a sigh of relief as he pulls off his mask, and Dr. Webber looks at him with a curious expression, so Levi just gives him a tight-lipped smile to appease him.

“Go home to rest, Schmitt,” he tells him. “You look like you’ve had a long day.”

_more like a long month_, Levi thinks to himself.

“Will do,” he answers, then quickly scurries off to avoid having to answer any more questions.

-

From that point on, it feels like there is some superior power forcing Levi to accidentally find himself in the same places as Nico. It’s making Levi go absolutely crazy, to the point where he’s paranoid walking anywhere in the hospital, always doublechecking every corner he rounds and trying not to be by himself as much as he can. It’s beginning to feel like living in a horror movie.

He will be waiting in line at the cafeteria, stomach rumbling and mouth as dry as the desert, and Nico will be right in front of him, towering over almost everybody else and offering Levi half of his lunch when it turns out that the cafeteria is out of pasta for the day.

It happens way too often and Levi always says no, but Nico keeps offering. It’s probably because he’s a good person and all, if the way he’s adored by both colleagues and patients is anything to go by. Levi begs to differ.

Link – Levi has tried calling him Dr. Lincoln but he just won’t answer him – has apparently taken a liking to Levi, so he requests him to be on his service all the time, even stealing him from other doctors so that he can have him for himself. Levi would be flattered and ecstatic, if it didn’t mean he has to work alongside Nico almost every day.

Not that they talk or interact that much anyway, but Nico is always nice and patient and a great teacher when he wants, which only makes it harder for Levi to keep being mad at him. Every day he finds himself wanting to just talk to Nico like a normal person, but his heart won’t let him forget.

He has no closure still and he can tell that it’s what’s keeping him from moving on, but he wouldn’t know how to go about it. All he knows is that he’s on edge most of the time and it’s getting exhausting.

-

The chance to finally sleep for twenty hours straight like he’s wanted to do for weeks now comes soon enough, with a long weekend coming around faster than Levi realized, and giving him a reason not to go crazy the last few days of work.

He somehow is lucky enough to not have a shift all weekend long, having worked a few extra hours during the week, so the way he excitedly stuffs his clothes into his bag is definitely justified. He even finds himself humming a song he’d heard on the radio this morning, that’s how good of a mood he’s in.

“Bye, you lucky shit,” Casey says as he walks by Levi on his way out. “Sleep for me as well, will you?”

Levi sends him a kiss, then turns back to the task at hand with a smile still on his face. He’s taking his sweet time because he has nowhere to be today, so by the time he zips his bag closed he’s the only one left in the room.

Or at least that’s what he thought, but the shadow he can see out of the corner of his eye tells him something else. He looks up and the smile that had still been lingering on his lips fades immediately.

“The fellows’ lounge is upstairs,” Levi says monotonously.

Nico steps further into the room and closes the door behind him, standing there without saying anything. Levi feels every muscle in his body tense up just from his presence.

He slings the bag onto his shoulder and wraps his fingers around one of the straps, staring at the locker right in front of him.

“Can we talk?” Nico finally asks.

Levi had been expecting it, so his answer is quick. “No.”

He makes a move to step around him and towards the door, but Nico is faster and blocks him. Levi finds himself facing his chest with his jaw clenched tight.

“I thought I made myself pretty clear,” Levi says slowly between his teeth.

Taking a step back, he tries to walk around Nico again, but he gets in the way once more. Levi takes a deep breath and raises his gaze until he can look him in the eye.

“I said-“

“Yeah, yeah,” Nico interrupts him. “You don’t want to talk to me, you’ve told me.”

Levi is taken aback. “Excuse me?”

Nico sighs and sits down on one of the benches, patting the space next to him. “Sit down, please.”

“No,” Levi crosses his arms in front of his chest. “I don’t want to hear it, whatever it is.”

Leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, Nico links his fingers together and looks up. Levi is sure he has a reason for not just turning on his heels and getting out of the room, he just can’t think of it right now.

“You may not want to hear it, but I have a right to say it,” Nico begins.

Levi scoffs.

“Look, it’ll go faster if you don’t interrupt me.”

The nerve on this man, seriously. Levi tilts his head to the side and thinks about it for a second, then nods his head and leans back against the row of lockers behind him. Nico clears his throat and rubs his hands together.

“I’m sorry,” he starts. “I’ve told you already, I know, but I still am.”

“Do you even know what for?” Levi has to speak up, he can’t help it.

“Yes,” Nico nods. “Yes, I do.”

Levi raises one eyebrow as if he doesn’t believe him. Nico huffs and leans back on his hands.

“I’m sorry for sleeping with your boyfriend and not telling you. I’m sorry you had to find out like that.”

A frown tries to take over Levi’s face, but he rubs a hand over his mouth to hide it. Hearing it said out loud like that still doesn’t feel great.

“And I’m sorry I can’t offer you anything more than this, but I didn’t know you two were together. I didn’t know, that’s my only fault.”

“Why didn’t you _tell me_?” Levi whispers, and it’s only slightly hysterical.

Nico shakes his head. “You would never have given me a chance.”

Levi can feel tears starting to gather in his eyes, unsure whether they’re in sadness or in anger. Maybe both.

“So you were gonna wait until it would hurt me to push you away.”

Nico doesn’t answer. Levi feels like he’s on fire though, and he can’t stop now that he’s started.

“Do you realize how selfish that is? You wanted me, so you didn’t tell me you had sex with my fucking boyfriend! And now you’re here telling me you’re sorry and shit, and I should just forgive you so we can pick up where we left off? That what you want?”

“I just wanted to explain myself,” Nico says with a small voice. “It’s up to you what you want to do after.”

Levi lets out an ugly burst of laughter. “Yeah, let’s put it all on me so you can clear your conscience.”

Nico suddenly stands up, towering over Levi but in the least threatening way possible. “You know that’s not why I’m doing this.”

“Oh yeah? Why are you doing it, then?” Levi stands his ground, head held up and gaze steady.

A small smirk stretches Nico’s lips. Levi is so mad at him that he wants to slap him and then kiss that smug expression right off his face. Wait, what?

“I’m doing it because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you and the way you looked with sand in your hair and the sun in your eyes.”

“What’s with you and my eyes?” Levi laughs, but it sounds strained even to his own ears.

“They’re pretty.”

Nico steps even closer, the tips of their shoes touching. Levi swallows noisily. They stare each other down for a few seconds, but it feels like hours go by before Nico tilts his head to the side almost imperceptibly. Levi’s stomach feels like it’s doing somersaults.

“Tell me I’ve got it all wrong and I’ll leave and never bother you again,” Nico says.

Levi actually thinks about it. He looks at Nico’s face and focuses on the way their chests brush against each other when they breathe in. The locker behind him is digging painfully into his shoulder blades, but he barely feels it.

Nico sounds genuine, is the problem. He isn’t saying anything Levi doesn’t know to be true already, and keeping him accountable for somebody else’s mess wouldn’t be fair. He’s apologized for his own faults. Maybe he should just let it go.

“I still hate you,” Levi whispers, but it’s lost its bite.

“No, you don’t,” Nico nods, sounding so sure of himself. It maddingly makes him that much hotter than he already is.

“Yes, I do,” Levi repeats stubbornly.

Nico bites his own lower lip. “Show me, then.”

Levi’s breath catches in his throat. One part of his mind is telling him to push Nico away and leave, while the other one gathers in his belly and makes his heart beat faster and faster. It’s a split-second decision.

He fists his hand into the front of Nico’s shirt and tugs him down, catching his mouth in a rough kiss that leaves him breathless immediately. Nico makes a small noise in the back of his throat and settles his hands on Levi’s hips, pushing him back against the lockers.

“Better than I remembered,” Nico mumbles against Levi’s mouth.

Levi just grabs the back of his neck and tugs firmly on his hair as an answer, kissing him harder to make him shut up.


	13. Chapter 13

Nico is _so_ gentle with the way he slides his hands down Levi’s back until he reaches the top of his pants and then back up so he can cradle Levi’s jaw in his big, dumb hands and angle his head every way he wants.

Levi only lets him believe that he can for a few seconds.

“This doesn’t magically make everything okay,” he says after he pushes him away with his hands on his shoulders.

Nico tries to lean back in for another kiss. “I know.”

Levi moves his arms to wrap them around Nico’s shoulders, tilting his head up so that Nico can attach his lips to the side of his neck. He closes his eyes and revels in how amazing it feels when he lets his teeth graze the skin.

“You’re not fully forgiven yet,” Levi whispers directly in Nico’s ear.

“What do I need to do?” Nico doesn’t miss a beat.

Smart boy. Levi smiles to himself and leans back, barely letting their lips brush. Despite his tone, Nico has a mischievous look in his eyes, like he knows perfectly that he’s got to play along if he wants to get somewhere.

Levi suddenly presses himself up against him, bodies touching from their knees up to their chests, mouths connected in another scorching kiss. He slips from Nico’s grasp and he’s halfway to the door just as quickly.

“Surprise me,” he quips before turning around and walking out the door.

He ignores Nico’s answering groan and the shiver it sends down his spine.

-

Levi’s phone buzzes for the hundredth time today from its place on top of the wardrobe. It’s Levi’s day off and he will not spend it with his face stuck to the tiny screen of his phone.

Instead, he’s spending it sitting on the couch with his feet in the air, catching up on his favourite shows.

The phone buzzes again. How does it still have any charge in it? Levi huffs and considers getting up, but he gets distracted by a seriously impressive explosion on the tv and forgets about it. That is, until it buzzes once again, only this time a loud crash follows the sound.

It fell off the wardrobe, then.

Levi grunts as he throws his body off the couch and struggles to stand up. He’s definitely been lying there for way too long. When he gets to his bedroom, he bends down to pick up his phone and watches it light up in his hands.

There are a hundred and fifty unanswered text messages from an unknown number. Levi blinks at the notifications as he watches them continue to come in, wondering if he somehow fell into a tumultuous sleep and this is the resulting weird nightmare.

Tired of the feeling of it vibrating in his hand, Levi unlocks the phone and opens the first notification his finger lands on.

“What the fuck.”

An endless amount of pictures of kittens and puppies goes by as Levi scrolls through the chat. A laugh escapes him, but he’s still so confused about who it is that’s sending him this stuff and _why_.

The constant stream of pictures stops as soon as he gets to the bottom of the chat. His eyes travel up to stare at the number, trying to recognize it somehow.

Suddenly it clicks in his mind.

_oh my god_, Levi answers.

He watches as the other person writes, sitting down on his bed and hiding his face in his hands, pointedly ignoring the way he can’t stop smiling.

_you never said which one you like best_

Levi shakes his head and falls back on the bed, phone held over his head. He starts typing an answer, but another picture pops up on his screen before he can send it. It’s of a puppy and a kitten sleeping curled around each other, with a glittery text under them that reads ‘forgive me’.

Chuckling, Levi sends back three shrugging emojis, then blocks the number altogether. How Nico managed to get his number is still a mystery.

Looking at the contact page, Levi’s eye catches on the empty picture slot, and he suddenly remembers the picture he took of Nico when he buried him in the sand. It feels like it happened such a long time ago.

Biting his lower lip, he calls it up on his screen and definitely doesn’t stare at it for way too long. Nobody is here to witness it anyway.

The fluttering in his stomach is harder to ignore. He didn’t think that Nico would actually go this far to satisfy Levi’s need to see him grovel, but apparently he’d underrated him. He won’t deny that he’s kind of pleased about it.

It brings back happy memories, looking at the picture. Sun, sand, laughter all mix in Levi’s mind, leaving him smiling dumbly at the screen where he’s pretty sure he would have ended up shovelling ice cream into his mouth to avoid thinking, just a few weeks ago.

Progress, or something like that.

There’s also the fact that Nico looks amazing, even when covered in sand up to his neck. The skin that does peek through is tanned and firm looking, arms crossed under his head and muscles at rest. Levi definitely remembers the way they looked when in motion, though.

That particular thought makes something stir in Levi’s belly. He arches his back and flexes his toes, considering his options and trying to decide if he’s actually going to do this or not.

“Fuck it,” he mutters, wiggling up the bed to get comfortable.

He’s not going to let shame and feelings of ‘I shouldn’t’ and ‘I can’t’ decide what he actually does. If he wants to jerk off while he maybe or maybe not thinks of hot days on the beach, he absolutely will.

That’s exactly what he does. Levi drops his phone on the bed and lets his hand barely touch his skin as he slides it down his front. It’s his own touch and he’s used to it by now, but it still makes the breath catch in his throat when his fingers run over the fly of his pants.

He quickly works it open and slides his hand in, sighing when he wraps his fingers around his own cock, which is more than interested in what’s going on.

It’s dry and cramped without fully taking his pants off, but he’s not too bothered. He gets worked up way too quickly, but he also realizes how long it’s been since he’s taken a moment to himself like this, so he can’t be blamed.

A sound forces its way out of Levi’s throat when he twists his hand just right, whole body following it. Head thrown back and digging into the mattress, Levi bites his lower lip and moans quietly. This is going to be over so fast.

There are flashes of strong hands, kind eyes, and those fucking lips sucking and biting marks into Levi’s neck running through his mind, and it really was over before it started.

With one last muffled cry, Levi squeezes the base of his cock and then quickens his strokes, until he arches his back and tenses up, then comes with a strangled sound, rubbing himself through it until it becomes too much.

Still breathing heavily, he stares up at the ceiling for a few seconds. A giggle runs through him, and he shakes his head at himself before getting up to clean up.

-

Going back to work is not as bad as Levi thought it would be, after three days at home, spending half of his time sleeping and the other half with his hands down his pants. It might not have been the most productive weekend, but it was a pleasant one.

Still, he’s ready to step back into his scrubs and snap some gloves onto his hands.

“You look so rested,” Casey complains, head lolling around where it’s pressed to Levi’s back.

“You’re going home, aren’t you?,” Levi reminds him.

They’re standing in front of the sinks where Levi is trying to tame the back of his hair into an acceptable state, and Casey had gravitated towards him as soon as he’d stepped into the changing room.

“Yeah, but I could be sleeping right now and I’m not,” Casey sighs.

Levi twists his hand behind himself and tries to pat Casey’s back as best as he can while he takes small steps to the side and turns around, heading towards the lockers. They probably look ridiculous, but you’d have to look somewhere else to find somebody who cares.

That’s when he notices it.

There is a single rose taped to the front of his locker, bright red against the dull metal. Levi’s heart skips a beat.

“Alright, I think I can stay awake long enough to go ho- oh!” Casey notices it as well. “Does little Levi have a secret admirer?”

“I’m not little,” Levi mumbles, but he’s distracted.

He picks the rose off the locker, rolling it between his fingers. There is no note that goes along with it, but Levi knows exactly who it’s from.

“Yes, you are,” Casey insists, chin hooked over Levi’s shoulder. “And you’re also blushing. Cute.”

Levi swats at him until he moves away, then fumbles with the lock in front of him. He turns his head to glare at Casey, who hasn’t stopped talking under his breath about how Levi needs to accept his tininess.

“Will you-“ Levi starts, but he’s interrupted by tens of roses falling on top of him.

He slowly turns his head to look at his now empty locker, hand still holding the door open, feet covered in the roses that had previously been filling it. There are so many and they’re so red, and Levi can’t stop smiling even when Casey leaves, still yelling at him for being well rested _and_ having a romantic interest.

-

Levi drags his feet and barely manages to keep his eyes open enough to see where he’s going. It’s so late and he’s so tired and his feet hurt so much. He wants to go home.

Casey definitely had a point; Levi would kick anybody who tried to talk to him right now.

Nico must not know that, because he perks up as soon as he sees Levi and waves at him from the other side of the E.R.

“Good morning!” he exclaims when he comes close enough.

Levi stops in his tracks and takes his sweet time raising his eyes to meet Nico’s, glaring at him the whole time.

“No,” is his only answer.

Nico’s smile doesn’t falter at all. “No?”

“Absolutely not,” Levi confirms.

Looking at him with a considering expression, Nico tilts his head to the side and holds Levi’s surely terribly menacing gaze. He seems to make up his mind all of a sudden.

“Come with me,” he says, grabbing Levi’s hand and tugging him along before he can say anything.

Levi doesn’t fight it partly because he physically can’t, and also because he’s kind of curious.

They cross what feels like the whole hospital, climb a million steps that leave Levi’s legs feeling like jelly, but Nico finally stops in front of a door. Levi squints at it for probably too long, but when he recognizes it he can’t help but frown, turning to shoot a confused look at Nico.

“Let’s go in,” Nico nudges Levi, arm reaching around him to turn the handle.

The fellows’ lounge is nice, there is no way around it. It’s big and clean and quiet, but all Levi can do is zero in on the couch on the other side of the room. Nico follows the line of his gaze and pushes him forward.

“You can lie down,” he assures him, closing the door behind them. “Nobody is going to come in here at this hour.”

Levi doesn’t have to be told twice, but he’s still suspicious. He sits on the couch and toes his shoes off, pulling his legs up and crossing them. Nico smiles and sits down next to him, sighing and leaning his head against the backrest.

“I could just go home to sleep,” Levi blurts out.

He doesn’t mean to say it as cold as it comes out, but Nico doesn’t seem bothered.

“You could, but I hope you’ll accept my offer of a good foot rub,” he presents his hands.

Levi glares at him for a few seconds, then mentally shrugs and lifts his legs to drop them on Nico’s lap, who then immediately smooths his fingers over his shins, down to the tops of his feet to squeeze them.

It feels good, and Levi feels some of the tension he’s holding in his body slip away from him. He relaxes against the armrest and watches Nico pretend he’s not looking back out of the corner of his eye.

“Why are you doing this?” he asks in a small voice.

Nico looks surprised. “You just finished a twenty hour shift, didn’t you?”

“No, I mean, yeah,” Levi shakes his head. “Why are you doing _all_ of this?”

He doesn’t offer any other explanation, but Nico seems to understand what he’s trying to get at.

“Gotta get myself forgiven, remember?” he says with a light voice.

Levi does remember. He just can’t believe that he’d taken him this seriously and gone all out to convince him.

“Is it just to get in my pants?” Levi almost whispers.

Nico stills his hands and smiles kindly, squeezing Levi’s calf and rolling his head on the backrest to look at him.

“If you think that’s why I’m doing it, you haven’t been paying attention,” he murmurs.

Levi blushes, deeply pleased by his answer. He digs his elbows into the couch to lift his upper body, one hand reaching for the back of Nico’s neck. They meet in the middle for a soft kiss that makes Levi’s insides flutter happily.

The kiss doesn’t last long, both because the position they’re in is way too uncomfortable, and because Levi still feels like being a little shit.

He bites Nico’s lower lip and then pulls back, a hand pressed to his chest to prevent him from leaning back in. Nico frowns and makes a sad sound, so Levi grants him one more peck, then rolls his legs off the couch and stands up.

“Where are you going?” Nico complains, grabbing his hand to hold him back.

Levi ignores him and slips into his shoes without pulling his hand back, then looks at Nico over his shoulder and just stares at him for a few seconds. Damn, he’s handsome.

“Am I forgiven?” Nico asks, rubbing his thumb over the back of Levi’s hand.

“I’ll think about it,” Levi shrugs, finally stepping away and towards the door.

“You’ll be the end of me,” Nico calls after him.

If Levi walks with a spring in his step all the way back home and he falls asleep with a finger grazing over his own lips, it’s his own business and nobody else’s.


	14. Chapter 14

The O.R. is perfectly silent, the only noise coming from the machines keeping track of the patient’s stats. Levi is pretty sure that half of the people standing around him aren’t even breathing.

It’s not like Levi himself is doing any better, but he has a front row view and doesn’t need to strain his neck like the other interns behind him. He can feel their eyes on the back of his neck, but he doesn’t let that distract him from what is happening on the table.

Dr. Lincoln – Link, Levi forces himself to remember – is delicately using a pair of long tweezers to put small pieces of bone back where they belong on the patient’s face. Levi has been watching him do it for four hours now, but he still can’t believe it’s possible.

Nico is standing right next to him, assisting when needed but mostly sneaking glances at Levi that literally everybody notices. Levi ignores him, but he’s getting antsy the closer the end of the surgery comes. He has plans.

When Link drops the instruments into the pan the whole room jumps from the metallic noise. He looks around with a smirk visible even through the mask he’s wearing, then nods his head and takes the scissors the nurse is handing him.

“We’re done here, you can go,” he says. “I’ll close.”

Levi thanks him profusely for the opportunity, then follows the line of people walking out of the room when Link waves him away. He spots Nico’s head of dark hair easily, mostly because he’s the tallest person in the hallway, towering over everybody else.

“You,” Levi accuses, stabbing one finger into his chest. “Unbelievable.”

Nico grabs his finger before he can do it again, holding it in one hand as he uses the other one to take off his scrub cap.

“Thank you, you’re pretty great too,” he smiles.

Levi scowls and tears his hand away from Nico’s grip. There are people walking around them, but they’re all paying no mind to what’s happening.

“I don’t need you to get me into big surgeries,” Levi says, crossing his arms over his chest.

Nico smiles even bigger, and it’s the exact opposite reaction Levi wanted to get out of him.

“It was Link who wanted you, but I like that your first thought was that I’d do something like that for you.”

Levi is as confused as he is flattered. He stubbornly doesn’t let either emotion show. He changes strategy, dropping his arms and looking up at Nico through his lashes.

“Well, I guess you don’t want my thank you gift, then,” he shrugs, only managing a half turn before Nico is grabbing his arm to stop him.

“Gift?” Nico asks, obviously interested.

Rolling his eyes exaggeratedly, Levi tests Nico’s grasp on his arm and keeps walking, not stopping when he lets go. He only has to wait a couple of seconds before he feels a big hand on his lower back.

“Where are we going?” Nico mumbles in Levi’s ear as they walk.

“Who said you’re going anywhere?” Levi pushes his face away, but lets him keep his hand where it is.

They walk down the hallway, Levi leading both of them and weaving through the people milling around, only stopping in front of a seemingly random door. Nico doesn’t even try to avoid crashing into his back.

“I can leave, then, if you don’t want me to come,” Nico says.

Levi bites his tongue to avoid answering him. He just leans with his back against the door and reaches up to grab the collar of Nico’s coat and get him to lean down to his level. He rubs their noses together, one hand patting the door behind him to grab the handle.

“There are so many things wrong with that sentence,” Levi shakes his head.

The way Nico beams tells him that he knows already. He briefly looks around them to see if anybody is staring at them or generally failing to mind their own business, but it seems like nobody cares. Good. Levi would have been ready to throw hands.

“Are you going to open that door or are we-“ Nico starts, but Levi interrupts him by turning the handle and letting their joined weight open the door.

It slams on the wall inside the room and Levi stumbles backwards, but Nico catches himself with one hand gripping a shelf and the other one wrapped around Levi’s back. He also manages to close the door behind them with a kick, leaving them grasping onto each other in the dark.

“That was smooth,” Levi admits.

Nico chuckles and straightens both of them up, but Levi just hangs uselessly from his neck and lets him do all the work in repositioning them so that they’re leaning against a wall that won’t snap in half.

When they’re both finally comfortable, Levi leans up onto the tips of his toes and catches Nico’s lips in a kiss. It’s Nico who breaks it first.

“I would literally keep going for months if that’s what you wanted,” he starts, brushing one finger down the shell of Levi’s ear. “But please tell me this means I’m fully forgiven?”

Levi doesn’t even try to hide the pleased smile that appears on his face. He lets his hands slide down to his chest, fingers bunched up in the fabric of his shirt.

“I will cut off your balls if you do anything like that ever again,” Levi threatens as he smiles serenely. “But yes, I’ve decided to give you a chance.”

It would sound patronizing and maybe a bit humiliating to anybody else, but Nico just hums happily and kisses Levi so hard that the back of his head hits the wall behind him.

If anybody asked – who would care? – Levi would say that he’d totally planned on them landing inside a storage room, but between himself he’ll admit that it was not the case. He’d been trying to go for a room that would at least have decent lighting, but he’ll take what he can get.

Nico doesn’t seem bothered. He slides his hands down Levi’s back and stops just above the swell of his ass. Levi makes a complaining noise and grabs his wrists to push them down, letting him know that it’s okay to touch. Hell, it’s more than okay.

“I can’t begin to tell you how much I like you,” Nico mumbles against his lips.

He squeezes his hands and pulls Levi against him, slipping a leg between Levi’s knees until they’re as tangled as two people standing up against a wall can be.

“Try,” Levi bites Nico’s lower lip.

Nico laughs, sounding a little breathless. He pulls back just enough to look Levi in the eyes, hands raising to brush the hair off his forehead.

“I probably already made it clear, but I love your eyes,” his thumbs brush the crinkled skin at the sides. “They’re big, and I can never tell what colour they are, and I always want them on me.”

Levi doesn’t blush, and anybody who says different can expect a kick right up their ass.

Nico drops a kiss on Levi’s lips. “You’re so smart and I never know what the next thing to come out of your mouth is going to be, but it’s always so much better than I imagined and I can’t get enough of it.”

“Shut up,” Levi pushes his face away with one hand.

Not bothered in the slightest, Nico dips his head down and attaches his lips to Levi’s neck, leaving a trail of kisses that goes from one side to the other.

“You are gorgeous,” Nico bites down. “I love when you have a beard and I love when you shave it, you look great without glasses and you’re adorable when you wear them.”

Levi isn’t going for adorable right now, so he brings Nico back on the right path by pushing his hips forward and letting them brush against his. Nico inhales sharply and changes tactics, answering with a push of his own and putting his hands back on Levi’s ass, where they belong.

“You’re also a little shit when you want to be, but it makes me like you that much more.”

That sounds like a backhanded compliment, and Levi is about to complain about it, but Nico suddenly drops to his knees and grabs Levi’s hips to steady him.

“Fuck,” Levi whispers.

The reality of what Nico looks like staring up at Levi through his lashes, fingers hooked inside his pants and lips puffy from their less than gentle kissing, is better than Levi could have ever imagined. His knees get a big wobbly when he lightly tugs the band of his pants down.

“Can I?” Nico asks, and he’s not specific about what, but Levi doesn’t care at all.

“You can do whatever the fuck you want to me,” he nods, even helping him with clumsy hands.

Nico laughs delightfully and Levi’s heart clenches, but it’s immediately soothed by the spark that shoots up his spine when Nico raises the bottom of Levi’s shirt and kisses his lower belly.

As much as Levi would like to spend his whole day watching Nico kiss every inch of his body, they’re at work and they’re on a tragic time limit.

“Get on with it, then,” Levi pushes, wiggling his hips.

Nico digs his fingers into his sides and stills him, then leaves a trail of kisses that goes down from Levi’s bellybutton and ends on top of the bulge tenting his pants.

“Bossy,” he mumbles, but he doesn’t sound like he minds.

Levi lightly kicks him, but Nico just smirks and keeps going, kissing the skin he uncovers as he slides Levi’s pants down his hips. When his cock finally springs out and the colder air hits it, Levi hisses and opens his mouth to urge him on again.

Nico cuts him mid-thought by holding the base of Levi’s cock and licking it with a flat tongue, then wrapping his lips around the head. Levi grunts and hits his head on the wall behind him, while Nico just goes for it, lips tight and obviously set on making Levi lose his mind as fast as possible.

The air in the room is dusty and it’s still not bright enough to see everything that’s going on, but Levi doesn’t need light when he can feel the way Nico’s fingers squeeze and drag upwards, dry but so good that Levi has to bite his lower lip until he tastes blood to keep from swearing as loudly as he wants.

It doesn’t get easier when those same fingers slide down to fondle his balls and even further, pressing on the stretch of skin behind them and making Levi gasp and spread his legs to give him more space.

“You’re-“ he starts, but he doesn’t know how to finish the sentence.

All he manages to do is cover the back of Nico’s hand with one hand and grab his hair without messing it up too much. As much as he doesn’t want to, they have to go back to the real word soon.

Nico probably has the same thought, because he hums around Levi’s cock and doubles his efforts, hand speeding up to meet his lips, squeezing on its way down and twisting on the way up.

Levi rolls his hips forward once, tightens his hand in Nico’s hair and whimpers. Nico looks up, hands following the path his eyes take, settling just under Levi’s ribs, thumbs brushing over his skin.

He might be the one on his knees and with a cock in his mouth, but Levi has never been more at the mercy of somebody like he is now. It feels good to let go, in more ways than one.

“I’m gonna come,” Levi whispers.

Nico hums again and it only takes Levi a couple more seconds before he’s holding his breath and clenching every muscle in his body, grunting and finally coming. Nico sucks him through it until it gets to be too much and Levi gently pushes him away with a hand on his shoulder.

“Come up here,” Levi wiggles his fingers at him, waiting for him to stand up.

His knees pop so loudly that even Levi hears it, so he doesn’t miss the opportunity to laugh at him for it.

“Old man,” he teases, rubbing the tips of their noses together.

Nico pouts but still kisses him chastely. “That’s not a nice thing to say to the guy who just sucked you off.”

Levi beams, pleased to no end. He kisses him again, then pushes him away and pulls his own pants up, adjusting himself before patting Nico on the chest and then deciding to stay there because it’s nice.

He feels a bit like he’s drunk.

“It’s probably a bit rude for me to go now,” he soothes Nico’s disappointed look with a nice little grope. “But I really don’t want to have to explain to Link why I’m late.”

“That’s fair,” Nico coughs, obviously blushing. “Can I ask you to unblock me so I can send you the address to my apartment, though?”

Levi pretends to think about it, then smacks Nico’s ass loudly and heads for the door without saying anything else.

“Is that a yes?” Nico asks, raising his voice to be heard over the noise coming from the hallway.

Levi just sends him a kiss and slams the door closed. He can’t wipe the smile off his face for the rest of the day.


	15. Chapter 15: Epilogue

_A couple of years later_

“You’re sticky.”

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. Look, our chests are sticking together.”

Levi nuzzles into his neck and sighs happily. “You love it.”

Nico doesn’t answer, but Levi knows he’s smiling up at the sky. He is sticky, but he wouldn’t have been if Nico hadn’t distracted him with sweet kisses while he was eating his popsicle, so it’s absolutely his fault and he’s got to live with the consequences.

He would wiggle and spread the stickiness around even more just to be annoying, but he’s too comfortable. Nico is lightly running his fingers up and down his spine and it’s lulling Levi to sleep, so he’ll let it slide just this time.

“Do you want to swim a bit more before it starts raining?” Nico asks, lips pressed to his shoulder.

Levi tightens the arm he has wrapped around Nico’s waist, frowning but opening one eye to look around.

The beach is blissfully empty except for the two of them and their stuff spread everywhere, so Levi has no problem with lying on the sand with his arms wrapped around Nico and their legs tangled together. Even if there was somebody, today is not the day Levi would care.

After talking about it every day for the past six months, they had managed to both get enough time off to be able to take a vacation to the ocean together. Isolated cabin, phones turned off and just the two of them to entertain each other, they’ve been spending the last week happily baking on the sand.

Call them sappy, but it was for old times’ sake. And also because Levi is sure that if he woke up one more morning with the rain pelting against the window, he’d go crazy. It’s a much needed vacation.

As if summoned by Levi’s thoughts, thunder echoes in the distance. There are big, dark clouds covering the blue sky, threatening to send heavy rain down any moment.

“Yeah,” Levi decides. “But you have to carry me.”

Nico rolls his eyes but fits his hands under Levi’s knees anyway, almost like he’d been expecting it. He probably had, he’s great like that.

“You take advantage of being small way too much,” Nico grunts as he struggles to stand up with Levi in his arms.

Levi gasps, faking outrage. “How dare you! I am not small!”

“You’re the smallest,” Nico grins, dodging Levi’s attempts at swatting at his face.

They might also be just slightly inebriated. And by that, Levi means that they had three beers each before stumbling their way down to the beach. Whatever, they’re on holiday.

Nico picks up speed as he nears the water, crashing into the waves but never letting go of Levi. It would be cute, if it didn’t mean that Levi ends up crushed under Nico’s weight, head barely above the water.

He splutters and flails exaggeratedly, but Nico fishes him out of the water and wraps his arms around him, so he doesn’t complain. They end up with Levi hanging off Nico’s neck, legs tightly wrapped around his waist and foreheads pressed against each other.

“This feels familiar,” Levi muses.

Nico leans up to kiss him, tasting like salt and strawberry popsicles, and Levi melts against him, fingers buried in the hair at the nape of his neck. A wave hits them from the side and almost drowns both of them, but they come out of it laughing and clutching at each other tighter.

“I’m starting to think that the ocean doesn’t like us,” Nico gasps.

Levi brushes the water off both his and Nico’s face, then wiggles until Nico lets him go and he can float on his back. Another roar of thunder echoes in the sky, and Levi hears it even with his ears underwater.

He feels Nico come closer, wrapping one hand around Levi’s upper arm and slowly spinning him around. Levi smiles to himself and covers Nico’s hand with his, but still lets him do what he wants.

The first raindrop almost goes unnoticed by both of them. The ones that follow are harder to ignore, since they start falling all of a sudden and all at the same time.

“The sky is literally trying to drown us!” Levi screams as he swims towards the shore.

Nico catches up and passes him, infinitely faster, so he gets out of the water first and starts gathering their things before they all get irreparably wet. Levi trudges behind him, pushing the wet hair out of his eyes and half-heartedly helping him, but mostly yelling at him to hurry up.

The run down the beach must be ridiculous to the outside eye, but the rain is so thick that Levi is pretty sure that nobody that is further than two steps away from them can see them.

“Are you still following?” Nico calls out, barely turning his head to look at him.

“Of fucking course,” Levi screams back.

He uses the last of his muscle power to sprint forward, passing Nico and getting to the door of their cabin before he does. As it turns out, Nico is the one with the keys in his pocket, so Levi is left waiting for him under the pelting rain with nowhere to take cover.

He squints and barely manages to make out Nico’s approaching form, bags in both hands and towels hanging from his shoulders. He looks exhausted but he still has a smile on his face, and Levi loves him so much.

There’s no way he’s helping him with the bags, though.

“Key, key, key,” Levi chants when he comes close enough.

“Back pocket,” Nico answers breathlessly.

Levi sticks his hand into the pocket and struggles to take the key out of the wet, clingy material, then turns back around and tries to open the door with slippery hands.

“I’m gonna lose an arm if you don’t hurry,” Nico complains.

“We don’t want that now, do we,” Levi tuts, finally managing to throw the door open. “How would you carry me then?”

Nico lets everything drop to the floor, then looks at Levi with his hands over his hips, still panting but smiling anyway. He takes one step closer, tilting his head to the side.

“Is that the only reason you keep me around?”

Levi shrugs. “You also have a nice dick.”

Nico rolls his eyes, but Levi can see the blush that appears high on his cheeks. He closes the distance between them, wrapping his arms around Nico’s neck. They’re both still dripping water everywhere.

“Levi,” Nico says, voice tight.

“Yes, that’s my name,” Levi jokes, leaning up to steal a kiss.

Nico grants him one, but he pulls back after just a few seconds. He cradles Levi’s face with both hands, thumbs gently rubbing over his skin.

“Levi,” he says again.

“Nico,” Levi answers, starting to get a bit weirded out.

Swallowing thickly and lowering his hands to squeeze the tops of Levi’s shoulders, Nico looks away and takes a deep breath. Levi immediately gets a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“What is it?” he tries to keep his tone calm.

“I have something to say,” Nico clears his throat.

“Okay, say it, then,” Levi presses.

He shifts his weight from one foot to the other, starting to get restless and uncomfortable from the anxious swirling in his tummy. He doesn’t like the way all of this is going.

“I don’t know where to begin,” Nico sighs.

The waver in his voice is what does it for Levi. He clenches his jaw and pushes against Nico’s hold, trying to break free and put some space between them.

His heart is already breaking from whatever he’s going to have to hear, and he desperately wishes he could be sure that he’s just having a dumb nightmare of his, but apparently it has to happen and it has to happen now.

Did Nico cheat on him? Did he come all the way over here just to tell him in the worst way possible? Is he going to break up with him like this, in the most ridiculing way he could think of? He doesn’t want to believe it.

Levi opens his mouth to tell him to just hurry up and say whatever it is, but before he can get even a word out, Nico disappears from under his hands, kneeling on the floor in front of him.

“What,” Levi breathes.

“Levi,” Nico says again.

“Stop saying my fucking name,” Levi slaps his shoulder.

He doesn’t mean to be so aggressive, but his head is spinning and he doesn’t understand what’s happening.

Nico grabs his hand before he can hit him again, bringing it up to his lips and kissing the back of it. He takes another deep breath and looks up, and that’s when Levi gets it. His heart jumps in his throat, beating erratically, and he squeezes Nico’s hand holding his.

“Levi,” Nico teases. “You came into my life with your feet in the sand and the sun in your eyes, and it hasn’t been the same ever since. I knew I never wanted to let you go from the first moment I saw you, and you somehow feel the same, and I’m the luckiest guy on earth.”

“You know you don’t have to woo me to get me to put out,” Levi jokes.

“Don’t ruin it,” Nico chastises him.

“Ruin what, exactly?” Levi pretends not to know. Truth is, he’s fighting to keep a smile off his face.

“I’m getting there,” Nico rolls his eyes.

Levi nods and runs the fingers of his free hand through Nico’s still wet hair.

“Right,” Nico licks his lips. “You drive me crazy and you enjoy every second of it, and all I want is to make you as happy as you get when I give in to what you want, so I wouldn’t have it any other way. Even if you wake me in the middle of the night to tell me to go buy you ice cream.”

“Okay, I get it,” Levi kicks his knee as lightly as he can manage. It’s still too hard, but Nico just smiles lovingly at him.

“I love and adore you, is what I’m trying to get at,” Nico continues. “That’s why I have one last question for you.”

He reaches to the side and lifts a corner the mattress, fishing a small box from under it. Levi holds his breath until he opens it and reveals the thin, silver ring that sits innocently in it.

“Levi Schmitt, will you marry me?”

Levi releases his breath all at once, tears springing up into his eyes before he can do anything about them. He nods and doesn’t stop even when he hugs Nico so tightly that he wheezes.

“Yes, yes, yes,” Levi yells in his ear.

He leans forward too far and tips both of them over, ending up sprawled on the floor, giggling into each other’s mouths, smiling too much to properly kiss.

Nico flips them with one swift movement and pins Levi to the floor, then sits back and tries to take the ring out of the box, but failing because his hands are shaking too much. Levi covers them with his own hands and squeezes, smiling as a way to calm him down.

Who is he kidding, he has tear marks down his cheeks already.

After a while of struggling together, Nico manages to pluck the ring and slide it on Levi’s ring finger. Both of them hold their breath when it’s in place, staring at it with huge smiles on their faces.

“I love you,” Levi finally says.

Nico looks up and leans down to kiss the tip of Levi’s nose. “I love you, too.”

“We’re engaged,” Levi points out, flashing his ring.

“We are,” Nico confirms.

“Want to find out what fiancé sex is like?”

Nico just pounces on him and kisses the laugh off of his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on [Tumblr](https://shesbreathless.tumblr.com/)! <3


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